Novartis raises its forecast again after a strong start to the year
Keystone-SDA
Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis has continued the strong pace of growth of recent quarters in the first three months of 2025. Contrary to the expectations of many analysts, the company has raised its outlook again, for the ninth quarter in a row.
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Between January and March, Novartis generated sales of $13.2 billion (CHF10.9 billion). This is an increase of 12% compared to the same period last year, the Group announced on Tuesday. At constant exchange rates (CER), the increase was 15%.
In operational terms, the Basel-based company earned just under $4.7 billion (+38%) in the first quarter. The bottom line was a consolidated profit of $3.6 billion after $2.7 billion in the same period of the previous year. According to the press release, the increase was primarily due to the higher operating result.
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For analysts, however, the core operating profit adjusted for various factors is more important. At $5.6 billion, this was better than the AWP consensus in the first quarter.
Novartis management is once again raising its own target for the full year. At constant exchange rates, the Group is now targeting sales growth in the high single-digit percentage range (previously: mid to high single-digit range). For core operating profit, it is now forecasting growth in the low double-digit percentage range (previously: high single-digit to low double-digit range).
Translated from German by DeepL/ts
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