Roche boosts profit despite strong Swiss franc

Feb 1, 2012, 10:51 GMT

Basel, Switzerland - Swiss pharmaceutical maker Roche raised its profit by 7 per cent last year, despite worldwide austerity measures in health sectors and a strong Swiss franc that made exports expensive, the group said Wednesday.

Roche, which is one of the largest firms in the industry, made a net profit of 9.54 billion francs (10.41 billion dollars).

Sales fell 10 per cent, to 42.53 billion francs.

However, without taking into account currency effects, revenue rose 1 per cent.

The company managed to weather the rising currency because it has factories around the world and 80 per cent of its expenses are in currencies other than the franc.

Sales of some products - like the influenza medication Tamiflu - dropped because there were no major pandemics.

Health reforms and austerity measures by governments also weighed down sales.

However, profits grew due to improvements in productivity, lower financing costs and a lower tax rate.

Chief executive Severin Schwan said he expected 'group sales to grow at a low to mid-single-digit rate' in 2012.