COPENHAGEN, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Global pharmaceuticals company Novo Nordisk of Denmark on Wednesday slightly adjusted its annual guidance after posting an 8 percent rise in operating profit for the first half of 2017.
Novo Nordisk now expects its full-year sales growth to be 1 percent to 3 percent compared with previous range of -1 percent to 3 percent, measured in local currencies.
Operating profit for the first six months of this year stood at 26.88 billion Danish kroner (4.24 billion U.S. dollars), up from 24.81 billion kroner for the same period last year, the company said in its interim financial report.
The company made a net profit of 20.11 billion kroner for the same period 2017, up 4 percent from 19.42 billion kroner year-on-year.
Revenue for the period increased by 4 percent to 57.09 billion kroner, up from 54.67 billion kroner year-on-year, it added.
Novo Nordisk said the sales growth was realized within diabetes and obesity care, with the majority of growth originating from new-generation insulin, diabetes treatment Victoza and once-daily semaglutide for obesity, while sales within biopharmaceuticals declined.
Meanwhile, both international operations and North American operations contributed to sales growth with 68 percent and 32 percent respectively.
The company expects the operating profit for 2017 to be in the range of 1 percent to 5 percent, against a previous forecast of -1 percent to 3 percent.
The share price of Novo Nordisk at the Copenhagen Stock Exchange rose some 7.9 percent Wednesday, as investors reacted positively to the interim financial results. (1 U.S. dollar = 6.34 Danish kroner) Enditem
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