Half-year profits exceeded forecasts Roche due to good sales of drugs

BASEL, Switzerland (Reuters) - Swiss pharmaceutical producer Roche reported on the adjusted net income for the first six months of this year, which surpassed analysts' expectations due to strong sales of drugs Perjeta and Rituxan, as well as one-off income derived from the activities of the pension fund company.
Basic earnings per share, subject to adjustment of certain balance sheet items, increased by 7 percent to 7.74 Swiss francs ($ 7.86). Analysts on average had forecast a figure on the level of 7.52 francs.
Sales of the three well-established group of drugs for the treatment of cancer - Herceptin, Avastin and Rituxan, continued to grow.
 Annual sales of each of the bottom up over 6 billion francs a year. Nevertheless Roche is necessary to advance in the market its new drug because of the expected decline in sales of obsolete products in the next few years.
Sales of Rituxan, which was approved in Europe in 1998, rose in the second quarter by 5 percent in local currencies to 1.88 billion Swiss francs, exceeding analysts' expectations at 1.83 billion.
Sales of the new drug Perjeta, for the treatment of breast cancer jumped by 35 percent to 467 million against the average analyst forecast of 449 million.
 In the last quarter, the company also recorded a one-off gain of $ 426 million, resulting from the activities of its pension fund.
(Ludwig Burger)