That's the pull-through of Dr. Perlmutter's refocusing efforts. However, Merck charged off north of $870 million in Q3 2013 alone, to get there. These sorts of restructuring savings won't be available forever, to boost bottom line non-GAAP EPS. And this quarter, they cost 8,500 people their careers, and livelihoods.
Before currencies, sales in Animal Health were flat -- but currencies caused an actual decrease of 2 per cent compared to Q3 2012 (The voluntary withdrawal of Zilmax® in the US and Canada was a contributing factor here). The brightest spot on the income statement released this morning was Remicade®/Simponi® -- which was up 16 per cent, and up 22 per cent given favorable currency exchange rate-trends -- in the countries where Merck holds the right to sell it. Per Reuters:
. . . .[Merck said] sales of its Januvia diabetes treatment fell, raising more concerns about growth prospects for the company's biggest product. . . .
The company said on Monday it earned $1.12 billion, or 38 cents per share, in the third quarter. That compared with $1.73 billion, or 56 cents per share, in the year-earlier period. . . .
For the full year, Merck now expects a 5 to 6 per cent decline in global sales (and about half of that decline being currencies related); with non-GAAP EPS coming in at year end between $3.48 and $3.52 per share. Shares are off around $0.80 here, on the NASDAQ's pre-market screen. So it goes.
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