LONDON (Alliance News) - Irish biotechnology company Shire PLC on Tuesday posted a more than doubled pretax income in the second quarter, ahead of its upcoming takeover by Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd.
In the three months to June 30, Shire recorded pretax income from continuing operations, excluding equity earnings, of USD734.2 million. This compares with a USD261.5 million income for the same quarter in 2017.
The company's revenue for the period was USD3.92 billion, up from USD3.75 billion the year before. Product sales made up the bulk of this, increasing 6% to USD3.81 billion from USD3.59 billion.
Immunology led product sales growth, climbing 13%, alongside a 61% rise in internal medicine sales and a 75% growth in Ophthalmics sales.
Royalties and other revenue dropped 28% to USD111 million from USD154 million due to lower royalties from thyroid drug Sensipar.
Revenue from ADHD drug Adderall XR was reclassified to product sales from royalty revenue, alongside other changes under the new accounting standard.
The company said that it will pay a dividend per share of 5.60 US cents for the interim, up 10% from 5.09 cents in 2017.
Shire intends to sell its oncology franchise to Servier SAS in the upcoming third quarter of 2018. At present, Shire's guidance 2018 is unchanged but it will be updated once the franchise is sold. The company said its 2020 guidance is likewise unchanged but has yet to be updated to include the sale of oncology.
"During the quarter, our board reached an agreement with the Takeda board on the terms of a recommended offer for Takeda to acquire Shire. The acquisition is expected to close in the first half of 2019, subject to shareholder approval of both companies and additional regulatory approvals. In the meantime, we remain resolutely focused on execution as these results demonstrate," said Shire Chief Executive Flemming Ornskov.
Shire agreed a takeover by Takeda in early May and gained unconditional clearance from the US Federal Trade Commission at the start of this month. The deal values Shire at GBP46.00 billion.
Shares in Shire were up 0.5% at 4,335.00 pence on Tuesday.
