Roche maintains 2020 outlook as first-half sales, profit fall

ZURICH (Reuters) – Roche said on Thursday that first-half sales and profit fell as patients cut down on trips to hospital amid the COVID-19 pandemic although the Swiss drugmaker maintained its full-year outlook.

Net income fell 5% to 8.5 billion Swiss francs ($9.16 billion) from 8.9 billion francs in 2019, as the strong Swiss franc also impacted results. Sales slipped 4% to 29.3 billion francs from 30.5 billion francs. At constant exchange rates, profit rose 3% and sales rose 1%, Roche said.

Sales are still seen growing in the low- to mid-single-digit percentage range at constant exchange rates. Core earnings per share are targeted to grow broadly in line with sales, and the company expects to increase its dividend.

Hospitalisations and out-patient visits decreased during the period, hitting sales of multiple sclerosis drug Ocrevus, haemophilia treatment Hemlibra, eye drug Lucentis and blood cancer treatment Rituxan.

Rival Novartis this week reported similar declines related to patients staying away from the doctor as it trimmed its sales outlook, which had been more optimistic than Roche’s to start the year.

And while Roche did benefit from increased sales of diagnostic tests for COVID-19, routine testing decreased significantly due to a decline in regular health checks. “The corona pandemic continues to pose an enormous challenge worldwide,” Chief Executive Severin Schwan said in a statement.

(Reporting by John Miller; Editing by Michael Shields)