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Pfizer reports brisk earnings gains
23 july 2004
NEW LONDON, Conn - Pfizer Inc.
on Wednesday reported robust gains in its profits and revenues for
both the second quarter and the first six months of this year, and
attributed the strong financial performance to rising drug sales,
the positive impact of its Pharmacia acquisition and continued cost
savings.
For the quarter, Pfizer's profits rose to $2.86 billion, or 38 cents per share, compared to a loss in the same quarter last year of $3.59 billion, or 48 cents on a per-share basis. Last year's loss was related to costs connected with Pfizer's April 2003 acquisition of Pharmacia Corp. Revenues for this year's second quarter rose to $12.27 billion, a 24 percent gain over last year's second quarter, when revenues were $9.9 billion.
"Pfizer's financial results in the second quarter reflect the company's fundamental soundness and resilience," said Hank McKinnell, Pfizer's chairman and chief executive officer. McKinnell said Pfizer's drug portfolio remains robust, with 14 of its drugs leading its category.
He said Pfizer's top five drugs, which include the world's top-selling cholesterol drug Lipitor, were performing "especially well." Lipitor's sales during the quarter rose 17 percent to roughly $2.4 billion and sales of Pfizer's hypertension drug, Norvasc, climbed 3 percent to more than $1 billion.
For the first six months of this year, Pfizer's profits rose to $5.19 billion, compared to profits in last year's comparable period of about $1.1 billion. Earnings per share were 68 cents for the first six months, compared to 16 cents during last year's first half. Revenues for the first six months grew 35 percent, to $24.76 billion, compared to last year's revenues of $18.4 billion.
Pfizer's shares, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange, closed the day's trading at $32 a share, down 33 cents from the prior day's trading. Pfizer is one of the 30 component stocks of the market bellwether Dow Jones Industrial Average.
John LaMattina, president of Pfizer Global Research and Development, said Pfizer's development of new drug-related entities is about 20 percent larger than a year ago.
"Our late-stage pipeline is on track to deliver 20 major New Drug Applications (NDAs) in the five-year period ending in 2006," he said.
Pfizer already has filed seven of the NDAs with the federal Food and Drug Administration and expects to file several more by the end of this year.
New York-based Pfizer, the world's largest pharmaceutical company, plans to spend $7.6 billion on research and development this year. It employs about 6,000 at its research, development and manufacturing facilities in southeastern Connecticut.
Pfizer's worldwide research and development headquarters is located in New London, and it has an extensive research campus and smaller manufacturing operations in Groton.
In total, Pfizer has about 8,000 employees in Connecticut, who either work in southeastern Connecticut or at its New York world headquarters.
Earlier this month, Pfizer revised its projected annual revenues from about $54 billion to between $52.5 billion and $53 billion to reflect market conditions and foreign exchange fluctuations.
But the company said Wednesday that it expects to reap merger-related cost "synergies" - such as a streamlined organization and reduced operating expenses - of some $3.5 billion because of its rapid integration of Pharmacia's operations.
It is revising its 2004 earnings from $11.9 billion to $12.1 billion and its projected annual earnings per share to $1.58, compared to earlier projections of $1.55.
Among Pfizer's leading drugs, Lipitor also showed strong sales for the first six months, rising 18 percent to nearly $4.9 billion. Norvasc sales gained 9 percent, with revenues reaching almost $2.2 billion during the first half of this year.
Pfizer's erectile-dysfunction drug Viagra
showed a 10 percent decline in sales during the first half, with
sales of $805 million compared with $894 million during last year's
first half. Pfizer attributed the decline to the launch of two competing
medications. And sales of Zyrtec, Pfizer's allergy medication, slipped
4 percent during the first half to $605 million because of the growth
of over-the-counter and private-label competition.
Besides Pfizer's human pharmaceuticals revenues, which made up the bulk of the company's $24.76 billion in sales for the first six months, its animal health operations' revenues jumped 40 percent, from $652 million to $912 million. And revenues of its consumer health-care division increased 29 percent during the first six months of the year, from $1.3 billion last year to nearly $1.7 billion.
Pfizer's consumer products include Desitin ointment, Listerine mouthwash and Visine eye-care products. source :-http://www.billingsgazette.com | 
