Eisai's 1st Half Ahead Of Expectations

Eisai of Japan has posted a strong performance in the first six months of the financial year ending March 1995. Sales were 118.3 billion yen ($1.2 billion), up 4.5%. Analysts at Lehman Brothers in the UK, who were expecting to meet with the Japanese company early this month, suggest that sales of Eisai's antiulcerant and its antigastritis agent Selbex (teprenone) performed favorably, along with another key product, Eisai's peripheral neuropathy agent Methylcobal (mecobalamin).

First-half net income was 8.68 billion yen, ahead 5.4%; operating income advanced 6.2% to 18.78 billion yen, and recurring profits were 18.81 billion yen, up 5.7%. Earnings per share in the first six months of the year were 33.8 yen compared with 32 yen in the like, year-earlier period.

Sales of the company's ethical drugs advanced 4.9%, while its over-the-counter products' sales growth was 8.8% in the first half.