Novartis Posts Higher Q2 Profit

Novartis reported second-quarter net income of $2.73 billion or $1.13 per share versus $2.44 billion or $1.06 per share in the year-ago quarter.
Core net income for the quarter increased to $3.56 billion or $1.48 per share from $2 77 billion or $1.20 per share in the previous year.
Quarterly sales climbed to $14.92 billion from $11.72 billion in the prior year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $1.40 per share on revenues of $14.42 billion for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Joseph Jimenez, chief executive officer of Novartis, commented, "We achieved strong sales growth of 19% in constant currencies and margin improvement of 0.4 percentage points in U.S. dollars. We further demonstrated the success of our R&D strategy with four major approvals and two filings in the second quarter. Our diversified healthcare portfolio, focused on high growth segments, is enabling us to generate superior results."