Pfizer has posted net profit of US$ 775 million during the fourth quarter ended December 2016 as against a net loss of $172 million in the similar period of last year despite lower revenues. Its net sales declined by 3 per cent to $13,627 million during fourth quarter from $14,047 million. Its R&D expenditure increased by 7 per cent to $2,512 million from $2,348 million. Its cost of sales declined by 6 per cent to $3,218 million from $3,410 million and selling, informational and administrative expenditure declined by 12 per cent to $4,423 million from $5,048 million.
Pfizer manages its commercial operations through two distinct business viz. Innovative Health (IH) and Essential Health (EH). Pfizer acquired Hospira Inc. during September 2015. Further it acquired Anacor Pharmaceuticals, Inc during June 2016. Thus the figures are not strictly comparable. The sales of IH segment improved by 1.2 per cent to $7,726 million during the quarter under review and that of EH declined by 7.9 per cent to $5,902 million.
For the full year ended December 2016, Pfizer's revenues increased by 8.1 per cent to $52,824 million from $48,851 million in the previous year. Its net profit increased by 3.7 per cent to $7,215 million from $6,960 million. EPS worked out to $1.18 as compared to $1.13 in the last year. Its R&D expenditure increased by 2.4 per cent to $7,872 million from $7,690 million. The sales from IH segment increased by 9.1 per cent to $29,197 million from $26,758 million and that of EH segment moved up by 7 per cent to $23,627 million from $22,094 million.
Its US sales increased by 21.5 per cent to $26,369 million from $21,704 million and that of International sales declined by 3 per cent to $26,455 million from $27,147 million in the previous year. Its sales in developed Europe declined by 4 per cent to $9,306 million from $9,714 million and that in emerging markets declined by 6 per cent to $10,420 million from $11,136 million. However, sales in developed Rest of World increased 7 per cent to $6,729 million from $6,298 million.
The sales of Lyrica IH increased by 14 per cent to $4,165 million from $3,655 million. However, sales of Prevnar/Prevenar 13 declined by 8 per cent to $5,718 million, Vigara IH by 9 per cent to $1,181 million from $1,297 million, Enbrel by 13 per cent to $2,909 million from $3,333 million, Lipitor by 6 per cent to $1,758 million from $1,860 million and Lyrica EH by 32 per cent to $801 million from $1,183 million in the previous year.
Ian Read, chairman and CEO, said, “I was pleased with the company's overall performance during 2016 and believe both of our businesses executed well despite a challenging operating environment. We generated attractive operations revenue and earnings growth driven by our major products within both the Innovative Health and essential health businesses. In addition to strong business performance, we allocated our shareholders' capital to a variety of value-creating initiatives that included company and product portfolio acquisitions, share repurchases, an increase in our dividend and ongoing funding for our R&D and commercial organizations.”
Frank D'Amelio, executive vice president, business operations and CFO, said, “Pfizer-standalone revenues in 2016 grew by 5 per cent operationally, excluding the impact of foreign exchange as well as legacy Hospira and legacy Medivation operations, reflecting solid underlying growth despite significant headwinds from product losses of exclusivity and the decline in revenues for Prevnar 13 Adult in the US. During 2016, we completed the acquisitions of Anacor and Medivation which added important revenue growth drivers to our Innovative Health business while we continued to integrate legacy Hospira operations into our Essential Health business. Finally, during 2016 we returned $12.3 billion directly to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases.”
“Our 2017 financial guidance at the midpoint of our ranges implies revenues slightly above 2016 and a 6 per cent increase to adjusted diluted EPS compared to 2016 results. We expect to achieve this despite absorbing revenue headwinds totaling $4.5 billion, comprised of $2.4 billion resulting from anticipated generic competition, $1.2 billion due to the pending disposition of HIS and $0.9 billion due to adverse changes in foreign exchange rates since 2016,” Frand D'Amelio added.
Pfizer clocks net profit
