J&J 1st qtr hit by market drop; keeps guidance

US health care major Johnson & Johnson's profit declined 3% year-on-year for the first quarter of 2009, on falling sales in a difficult market,  but it still maintained its guidance of $4.45 per share to $4.55 per  share, for the full year.

The company's net income was $3.51 billion versus $3.6 billion. Earnings  per share were flat at $1.26, beating Thomson-polled analysts  expectations of $1.22 per share. R&D costs were reduced by 11% to $1.52  billion.

Revenue was down by 7% to $15.03 billion - missing Thomson estimates of  $15.47 billion - with pharmaceutical sales falling 10% to $5.78  billion, comprising $3.67 billion from the USA and $2.11 billion across  the rest of the world, down 10% and 11%, respectively. Medical devices  and diagnostics fell 3% to $5.54 billion and the consumer division was  down 9% at $3.71 billion.