Shire clocks up rising sales and profits rise in 2016

Sales and profits at Shire, the acquisitive London-listed pharmaceuticals group, grew strongly in in 2016 as the company ploughed ahead with efforts to integrate Baxalta.

The company recorded a net income of $3.39bn, a touch higher than analyst estimates of $3.37bn on revenues in 2016 of $11.39.bn, also slightly ahead of analyst estimates of $11.36bn.

The company missed revenue expectations in the third quarter* last year as it absorbed the costs of its $32bn takeover of Baxalta.

Flemming Ornskov, chief executive, said:

2016 was a transformational year for Shire as we became the world leader in rare diseases. Our innovative portfolio and sharp focus on commercial excellence enabled us to generate double digit pro forma top-line growth.

With multiple product launches planned in 2017, we remain focused on execution and expect to generate strong top- and bottom-line growth. Our pipeline has never been stronger with multiple programs in Phase 3 or registration. We remain extremely optimistic about Shire’s long-term growth prospects.

Shire has said that is plans to save around $700m from integrating both companies within three years. These synergies would come from redundancies and cuts in overlapping research, development and manufacturing operations.

Analyst Mick Cooper of Trinity Delta said: “Shire continues to deliver very strong growth, even with the distractions caused by the integration of the Baxalta acquisition,” but warned of pricing pressures from the US affecting the company’s rare disease franchise.

Shares in Shire jumped 2.9 per cent following publication of the results.

*This post has been updated to reflect that revenue expectations were missed in the third quarter last year.