Novo's full-year 2006 net profit rises 10%

Danish insulin giant Novo Nordisk says that its operating profit in full-year 2006 jumped 13% on the year before, to 9.12 billion Danish kronor ($1.59 billion), as net profit climbed 10% to 6.45 million kroner, and earnings per diluted share rose 12% to 19.99 kroner.

Sales of Novo's insulin analogs increased 48% while income from NovoSeven, the firm's recombinant coagulation factor, jumped 13%. In a press statement, the firm said that, at its Annual General Meeting on March 7, its directors will propose a 17% increase in dividend to 7.00 kroner per share of 2 kroner. Meanwhile, its ongoing share repurchase program will be raised to 10.0 billion kroner, and is now expected to be finalized before the end of 2008.

In a note to investors, Lehman Brothers pharmaceutical sector analyst Matthew Weston said that nothing in the firm's fourth-quarter results "points to any degeneration in the long-term positive outlook for Novo's business in diabetes or bleeding."