Lilly's income down 81%, but shares up 1.5%

USA-based drug major Eli Lilly says that, for the fourth quarter of 2006, its income was $132.3 million, down 81% on the comparable period in 2005. The firm said that the slump, which also saw its earnings per share fall to $0.12 from $0.64 in the final three months of last year, was due to a charge of $494.9 million in relation to its decision to settle all the outstanding product liability litigation relating to its leading schizophrenia treatment Zyprexa (olanzapine) (Marketletter January 15).

However, excluding the impact of the Zyprexa settlement, as well as other one-time costs, the firm's EPS was equivalent to $0.85, up 6% on last year and ahead of the consensus forecast of $0.82 from a Reuters Estimates survey of analysts. As a result of the underlying expansion, which was helped by a favorable tax rate, the company's share price increased 1.5% to $53.50 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange, on January 31.

4th-qtr Revenues up 9%