Roche down after posting COVID-19 pandemic-hit financials

Shares of Swiss pharma giant Roche (ROG: SIX) were down more than 2% in early trading today, after it revealed that second-quarter 2020 sales fell 9.6% to 14.1 billion Swiss francs ($15.20 billion). Factoring out the strength of the franc, revenue dropped 4%.

Revenues disappoint the less optimistic projections of analysts consulted by AWP and profitability is at the lower end of the forecast range.

In the first half of 2020, group sales rose 1% at constant exchange (-4% in francs) to 29.3 billion francs and core earnings per share (EPS) grew 2% (-5% in francs), ahead of sales. International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) net income increased 3% at constant exchange rates to 8.46 billion francs, due to the strong underlying core results. As a result of the continued appreciation of the Swiss franc against most currencies, the IFRS net income expressed in Swiss francs decreased 5%.