"Excellent Results" For Abbott In 3rd Quarter

Abbott Laboratories' financial results for the third quarter of 1994 were hailed as "excellent" by company chairman and chief executive Duane Burnham. Sales were $2.2 billion, up 9.4% on the like, year-earlier period. Net income was $351 million, up 11.1%, and earnings per share advanced 13.2% to $0.43. It was noted that sales were favorably impacted 0.6% by the relatively weak US dollar.

Mr Burnham said the results are evidence that the company will continue to succeed in the new health care environment. "We are introducing products that reduce the total cost of health care and that help our customers operate more efficiently. We experienced good worldwide performances from each of our major businesses. The strong sales gains this quarter, however, were driven chiefly by the worldwide growth of our pharmaceutical business," he said.

Third-quarter spending on R&D amounted to $239 million, an increase of 6.3% on the previous year.