Shire beats earnings expectations, ups guidance

Ireland-headquartered Shire’s (LSE: SHP) shares were up 4.1% at £43.73 with the first 80 minutes of trading this morning, after the company reported second-quarter 2017 revenue of $3.75 billion and non GAAP earnings per American Depositary Shares (ADS) of $3.73, up 11 percent and beating a market forecast of $3.60.

Shire delivered product sales growth of 55% to $3.59 billion with the inclusion of legacy Baxalta sales. It achieved combined pro forma product sales growth of 7%; legacy Shire product sales growth of 7% to $1.88 billion and legacy Baxalta pro forma product sales growth of 8%.

The company continued to progress Baxalta integration, while delivering $400 million in cost synergies in year 1 - exceeding its target of $300 million - which contributed to a non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) margin of 43% for the quarter; on-track to achieve at least $700 million in synergies by year 3.