Roche posts better-than-expected third-quarter sales

Switzerland’s Roche (ROG: SIX), the world’s largest cancer drug company, posted sales figures for the first nine months of 2015. Group sales for the period of 35.5 billion Swiss francs ($36.98 billion) increased 6% at constant exchange rates and 2% in francs.
Shares of Roche, which does not disclose quarterly earnings figures, edged up 1.2% to 258.50 Swiss francs by mid-morning.

Revenues for the third quarter were up 1.4% to 11.94 billion Swiss francs from 11.78 billion francs a year earlier, beating analysts’ consensus expectations of 11.83 billion francs. Pharmaceuticals sales for the quarter increased 2.3% to 9.34 billion francs, while diagnostics division revenues were slightly lower at 2.6 billion francs.

Raised outlook for 2015