Roche 2017 sales beat forecasts

Swiss pharma giant Roche (ROG: SIX) reported full-year 2017 results this morning showing that group sales sales rose 5.4% to 53.3 billion Swiss francs ($57.0 billion), just beating the expectations of analysts surveyed by FactSet of 53.15 billion francs and 53.2 billion francs average estimate in a Reuters poll of analysts.

Core operating profit grew 3.2% to 19.01 billion francs and core earnings per share (EPS) increased 5% to 15.34 francs, reflecting the good underlying business performance.

On an IFRS basis net income decreased 9% to 8.83 billion francs. The IFRS result includes charges for the impairment of goodwill and intangible assets and the amortisation of intangible assets. Shares of Roche, the world’s largest maker of cancer drugs, edged up 0.65% to 230.95 francs in early trading.