Roche 1st Half Profit, Sales Grew; Raises Full-Year Sales Guidance

   By Sarah Sloat

Swiss pharma giant Roche Holding AG (ROG.EB) on Thursday said its net profit rose in the first half, and raised its sales outlook for the year.

After-tax profit grew in the first half to 8.9 billion Swiss francs ($9.0 billion) from CHF7.5 billion in the same period a year earlier. First-half sales grew to CHF30.5 billion from CHF28.1 billion, helped by growth in both its pharmaceuticals and diagnostics divisions.

"In the first half of the year, we achieved very strong results, driven by high demand for our new medicines," Chief Executive Severin Schwan said.

Roche raised its sales outlook for the full year and said it now expects mid-to-high-single-digit growth at constant exchange rates. Core earnings per share should grow broadly in line with sales, it said.

The company repeated that it expects to increase its Swiss-franc dividend.

Write to Sarah Sloat at sarah.sloat@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 25, 2019 01:31 ET (05:31 GMT)

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