Shares in Shire rise as it calms generics fears
SHIRE said yesterday that cheap, copycat competition would have only a limited impact on sales of its hyperactivity drugs in the key back-to-school period, reassuring investors that earnings would still rise by a double-digit percentage this year.
Shares in the pharmaceutical company, which fell as much as 13 per cent in June when US regulators approved a cut-price version of Adderall XR, rose more than seven per cent yesterday after it gave the earnings target alongside better than expected second quarter results.
Shire, which also makes expensive drugs to treat rare diseases, reported non-GAAP diluted earnings per ADS (American Depositary Share) of $1.68, up 26 per cent, on revenue of $1.2bn, up 14 per cent. Both beat forecasts.
Shire’s chief executive Angus Russell said analysts had downgraded forecasts on the approval of the generic Adderall XR, so the company was reassuring investors about the group’s continued growth.
“We feel confident about putting a floor under our earnings (growth) this year of 10 per cent,” he said.