Roche first-half earnings flat but beat expectations

Swiss pharma major Roche (ROG: SIX) has released its first-half 2015 financial results, showing that earnings were little changed, impacted by the strong Swiss francs and competition for older products offsetting sales of new cancer drugs. The firm’s shares were up in early morning trading, rising 1.45% to 279.20 francs.

Roche, the world’s leader in cancer drugs, said earnings excluding some items, declined 4.1% to 9.24 billion francs ($9.63 billion), but exceeded the 9.17 billion-franc average of eight analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. First-half sales rose 3% to 23.58 billion francs, in line with analyst estimates. At constant exchange rates, sales rose 6%. Core earnings per share declined 5% (+7% cc) to 7.22 francs.

Outlook for 2015