Yamanouchi 1st Half Net Income Up 15%

Japanese drug major Yamanouchi has reported sales of 220.97 billion yen($17.77 billion) for the six-month period ended September 1997, an increase of 4.5% over the like, year-earlier period. Operating income was up 2.2% at 43.38 billion yen, ordinary income improved 9.3% to 44.79 billion yen and net income leapt 15% to 25.45 billion yen.

The company says the positive effects of the weaker yen on net sales and operating income for the first half are about 3.3 billion yen and 1.3 billion yen respectively. For the full year, Yamanouchi is projecting sales up 3.4% at 470 billion yen and net income 9.9% higher at 46 billion yen.

Pharmaceutical sales, which were 4.2% higher for the first half, reached 185.5 billion yen and contributed 84% of total group turnover, with 154.1 billion yen coming from ethical drugs. Next came nutritionals (comprising the Shaklee Corp and Shaklee Japan KK), which brought in 25.3 billion sales, up 3.2%.