Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) today published its first quarter results, which met the analysts' expectations on revenue and profit. First quarter revenue totaled $5.6 billion, up 17% from the corresponding quarter of 2016 due to the Actavis acquisition. The company's net profit fell to $1.1 billion, $1.06 per share, compared with $1.20 per share in the corresponding quarter last year.
The analysts predicted that Teva's profit per share would be in the $0.91-1.09 range, and that the company's revenue would be in the $5.27-5.84 billion range. Teva's revenue in the first quarter of 2016 was $4.81 billion.
Sales of Teva's flagship branded drug Copaxone for the treatment of multiple sclerosis totalled $970 million in the first quarter. This was down 4% from the first quarter of 2016, a relatively modest fall considering the drug's patent has expired and generic alternatives are available.
"In the three months since I have stepped in as the Interim CEO, we have worked tirelessly to ensure that we extract synergies related to the Actavis Generics transaction, drive additional efficiencies throughout the organization, support cash generation, pay down debt, deliver on the promise of the specialty pipeline and execute key generic launches," said interim CEO Dr. Yitzhak Peterburg. "We are pleased that the transaction synergies and additional cost reductions are on track, and we now expect to realize cumulative net synergies and cost reduction of approximately $1.5 billion by the end of 2017, an increase of $200 million compared to our previous guidance. Notably, we have reduced our gross debt by $1.2 billion in the quarter. We are also pursuing the sale of certain non-core assets, including our global Women’s Health business and our Oncology and Pain business in Europe, to pay down debt. In Specialty, we have received several important approvals, including the recent approval and launch of AUSTEDO™ for Huntington's disease."
Teva has been rocked by the resignation of CEO Erez Vigodman, followed by the resignation of CFO Eyal Desheh a few months later.
The huge acquisition of Actavis has been criticized has been criticized, principally for its negative impact on the company balance sheet and concern that the profits from the deal will not meet expectations.
Teva is due to repay $1.5 billion to the banks this year, with debt repayments rising to a peak of $5.3 billion in 2018, including $2.25 billion to bondholders and the rest to banks. Debt repayments of $3.85 billion, including $3.05 billion to bondholders and the rest to banks, are scheduled for 2019.
In various conference calls, company executives said that the company's expected $5.6 billion cash flow in 2017 would be used to repay its debt next year.
Teva's share price rose 0.7% to $31.36 yesterday, reflecting a $32 billion market cap. The last time the company's share price reached this low level was on March 1, 2005.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on May 11, 2017
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