Nycomed's 1st Qtr In Line With Expectations

Pretax profits for the first three months of 1997 at the Norwegiancompany Nycomed were 271 million Norwegian kroner ($37.8 million), a decline of 32.6% compared with the 1996 first quarter. Operating profits were 493 million kroner, down from 648 million kroner a year earlier. The company's earnings per share declined 33.2% to 1.72 kroner. The results came in at the bottom end of industry analysts' expectations.

Nycomed's revenues for the quarter amounted to 1.8 billion kroner, a decrease of 7.1%. The firm's imaging business achieved turnover of around 1 billion kroner, compared with 1.2 billion kroner for the 1996 first quarter, and the pharmaceutical sector's sales were 779 million kroner, an increase of 1.7%. The two divisions achieved operating profits of 384 million kroner, down 30.5%, and 130 million kroner, up 14%, respectively.

The firm's first-quarter R&D costs were 189 million kroner, a decline of 8.2%.