July 19 (Reuters) – Johnson & Johnson (J&J) lowered its full-year adjusted profit forecast on Tuesday as the rising dollar weighed on its quarterly sales outside the United States.
The pharmaceutical giant joins other large American companies, including Microsoft and IBM, in warning of the effects of the higher price of the greenback.
The dollar has gained up to 11% since the start of the year against a basket of other benchmark currencies and should remain at a high level for at least the next three months, according to a Reuters poll.
J&J now expects adjusted earnings of $10.00 to $10.10 (9.75 to 9.85 euros) per share versus a previous forecast of $10.15 to $10.35.
During the second quarter, the group’s net profit fell to $4.81 billion from $6.28 billion a year earlier.
The pharmaceutical division of Johnson & Johnson, its main activity, enabled it to limit the difficulties linked to the COVID-19 pandemic on its branch of medical devices and thus to generate an adjusted profit above expectations.
Sales of pharmaceutical products increased by 6.7% to reach 13.32 billion dollars – thanks in particular to sales of the anti-cancer drug Darzalex and Stelara, a treatment for Crohn’s disease – while those of equipment Medical fell 1.1% to $6.90 billion in the quarter.
The group’s total turnover increased by around 3% to reach 24.02 billion dollars, with nearly half of the sales made outside the United States. (Report Manas Mishra in Bangalore; French version Dagmarah Mackos, edited by Laetitia Volga and Sophie Louet)