(BFM Bourse) – The pharmaceutical group published this Tuesday a net result of activities lower than expectations and announced the departure of its financial director.
It’s not easy to win back investors for Sanofi. The pharmaceutical giant seized up the market at the end of October, falling by almost 19% in one session. The group then announced that it was counting on a drop in its main profit indicator in 2024 and had abandoned a margin target in 2025.
The company then chose to double down on its own R&D in order to accelerate its growth and develop new innovative drugs. This results in an increase in investments.
Three months after this cold shower, Sanofi’s fourth quarter results do not reassure the market. The action thus fell by 3.6% this Thursday around 4:20 p.m., even if Dassault Systèmes (-9.3%) and BNP Paribas (-6.8%) did worse, their results also being sanctioned by the market.
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Dupixent in strong growth
Over the last three months of the year, Sanofi generated revenues of 10.9 billion euros, an increase of 9.3% excluding currency effects. The group’s blockbuster, Dupixent, indicated for numerous treatments (asthma, itching, etc.), drove growth, with an increase in sales of 31.3% excluding currency effects to 2.99 billion euros (and of 10.71 billion euros over the whole of 2023).
Conversely, those of Aubagio, a treatment against multiple sclerosis, fell by 74% to 121 million euros, “mainly reflecting generic competition in the main markets, including Europe, where this competition began at the end of September 2023,” explains the company.
Operating income from activities stood at 2.583 billion euros, up 5.3% excluding currency effects, while net income per share from activities, one of Sanofi’s main financial indicators, was to 1.66 euros, up 8.2% at constant exchange rates.
All of the accounts published by Sanofi are below market expectations, quite significantly even for operating profit. According to a Vara Research consensus communicated by the company, analysts on average expected sales of 11.04 billion euros, operating profit from activities of 2.77 billion euros and net income per share from activities at 1 .7 euros.
Departure of the financial director
Regarding its outlook, Sanofi confirmed that it expects a “low single digit” decline this year, i.e. between 1% and 4%, in its net profit per share of activities excluding currency effects. Already communicated at the end of October, this forecast includes a negative impact of taxation, with an expected tax rate of 21%.
“The foreign exchange effect on 2024 business net income per share is estimated at approximately -3.5% to -4.5% applying average exchange rates for January 2024,” Sanofi announced.
The pharmaceutical group also announced the departure of its financial director, Jean-Baptiste Chasseloup de Chatillon, who has decided to take the helm of the Fondation Apprentis d’Auteuil, a structure supporting young people in difficulty. He will be replaced by François-Xavier Roger, currently financial director of Nestlé.
“The departure of the financial director is regrettable and could in the short term undermine investor confidence given the impressive progress he has made so far in terms of operational efficiency,” explains Jefferies, quoted by the Agefi-Dow agency. Jones.
Julien Marion – ©2024 BFM Bourse
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