Sanofi profits leap 16.8% in fourth-quarter 2013

French drug major Sanofi (Euronext: SAN) posted fourth-quarter and full-year 2013 financial results this morning, showing that for the three-month period business net income leapt 16.8% (+30.5% at constant exchange rates) to 1.81 billion euros ($2.45 billion), with earnings per share of 1.37 euros, in line with the 1.81 billion-euro prediction of 10 analysts polled by Bloomberg. Sanofi’s shares dipped 1.85% to 69.98 euros in early morning trading.

Sales for the fourth quarter dipped 0.8% (+6.5% CER) to 8.46 billion euros, with currency effects taking 7.3 percentage points off growth. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S had on average forecast quarterly sales of 8.4 billion euros and net income of 1.77 billion.

For the full year 2013, sales were down 5.7% (-0.5% CER) to 32.95 billion euros, with business net income falling 17.5% (-9.6% CER) and EPS falling 17.8% (-9.8% CER) to 5.05 euros.