Nycomed Reports Profit Rise For 2nd Qtr

Nycomed, the Norwegian healthcare group which specializes in imagingagents and pharmaceuticals and is merging with Amersham International of the UK (Marketletters passim), has reported its third consecutive quarterly rise in profits.

The pharmaceutical arm of the group showed healthy growth in operating profit of 40% to 194 million Norwegian kroner ($25.2 million) for the second quarter, with revenues rising to 900 million kroner, up 12%.

Overall, Nycomed's operating profit before R&D expenses in the second quarter was 620 million kroner, an improvement of 26% on the first quarter and 8% compared to the corresponding quarter of 1996. The company's earnings per share for the first six months of 1997 declined 21% to 4.55 kroner. Shares on the Oslo Stock Exchange rose 6.5 kroner to 168 kroner on the results, up 55% since the Amersham deal was announced in July.