Merck & Co back in profit, beats forecasts

3 February 2012

US drug giant Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) has posted fourth-quarter and full-year 2011 results, with 4th-qtr GAAP net income of $1.51 billion, or earnings per share of $0.49 share, compared with a loss of $531 million, or $0.17, in the year earlier quarter, when Merck took a $1.7 billion charge to write down the value of an experimental blood thinner.

Excluding items, including acquisition and restructuring expenses, Merck earned $0.97 per share. Analysts on average expected $0.95 per share, according to Thomson Reuters. For the full year, GAAP net income was $$6.27 billion, or $3.77 a share, versus $861 million.

Full-year 2011 worldwide sales were $48.0 billion, an increase of 4 percent, which includes a 2 percent benefit from foreign exchange, compared to full-year 2010. Worldwide sales were $12.3 billion for the fourth quarter of 2011, an increase of 2% compared with the like quarter of 2010, and came in slightly below analysts’ estimates.

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