Allergan beats profit; raises 2019 revenue forecast on Restasis, Juvederm demand
Allergan beats profit, raises revenue forecast on Restasis, Juvederm demand
(Reuters) – Allergan Plc (AGN.N), which is being bought by AbbVie Inc (ABBV.N) for $63 billion, beat quarterly profit estimates and raised its 2019 revenue forecast on Tuesday, helped by demand for its dry eye drug Restasis and aesthetics product Juvederm.
The deal, announced in June, gives AbbVie access to Allergan’s lucrative drug Botox as it looks to diversify to counter looming competition for its blockbuster arthritis treatment Humira.
Botox sales rose 4.2% to $974 million in the second quarter, but missed consensus estimates of $992.3 million, according to six analysts polled by Refinitiv.
Total sales of Juvederm, a dermal filler used to restore facial contours, rose 11.3% to $329.3 million, beating estimates of $261.1 million.
Restasis reported a 3.4% drop in sales to $322.8 million, but trounced estimates of $211.75 million.
The drug faces impending competition from cheaper generic versions but delays in launch of copycat drugs have helped sales in the past few quarters.
Allergan said it now expects 2019 adjusted revenue of between $15.4 billion and $15.6 billion, from a prior range of $15.1 billion to $15.4 billion.
Net loss widened to $1.76 billion, or $5.37 per share, in the second quarter ended June 30, from $472.5 million, or $1.39 per share, a year ago.
The bigger loss related to a write-down in the value of its General Medicine unit by $1.09 billion, due to delays in clinical studies and a reduction in the expected value of some R&D projects.
Excluding items, Allergan earned $4.38 per share, beating analysts’ consensus of $4.35, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Revenue fell slightly to $4.09 billion in the quarter, hit by the global recall of the company’s Biocell textured breast implants. However, revenue still beat estimates of $3.94 billion.
Reporting by Aishwarya Venugopal, Tamara Mathias and Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila
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