Daiichi Sankyo, Japan's No. 3 drugmaker, said on Friday that its first-quarter recurring profit jumped nearly tenfold and kept its annual outlook, crediting its Indian arm Ranbaxy for the rise in profit.
Daiichi, which bought a majority stake in Indian generic drug maker Ranbaxy
Laboratories in 2009 and launched a new flagship drug, blood-thinner Effient, this year, said its recurring profit totalled 70.1 billion yen ($808 million) in April-June, up from 7.2 billion yen a year earlier.
For the full year to March 2011, Daiichi kept its forecast for recurring profit to fall 18 percent to 85 billion yen, short of the consensus of a 99 billion yen profit in a poll of 15 analysts by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Ranbaxy has reported a net profit of Rs 9.6 billion for January-March, the first quarter of its financial year, compared with a net loss of Rs 7.7 billion in the year-ago quarter. Daiichi's results reflect Ranbaxy's with the timelag of a quarter.
Daiichi Sankyo shares have lost 14 per cent this year as of Thursday's close, underperforming the benchmark Nikkei 225 average, which shed 8 per cent.