Pfizer booked an $11 billion gain from President Trump’s tax reforms as it beat Wall Street expectations with its fourth-quarter results and raised its outlook for 2018.
Strong demand for Xeljanz, its arthritis drug, Ibrance, its breast cancer treatment, and Eliquis, an anticoagulant, helped America’s largest pharmaceuticals company to report final-quarter revenue of $13.7 billion, up from $13.6 billion a year ago. Profit of $12.3 billion compared with $775 million last year, boosted by the tax gain.
Pfizer, which is worth about $225 billion, said in October that it would explore “strategic alternatives” for its $14 billion consumer healthcare business, which could include selling it, spinning it off into a separate company or retaining it. The business, one of the largest of its kind, makes popular non-prescription products such as Chapstick lip balm, Advil ibuprofen and Centrum multivitamins. It is expected to attract interest from large consumer goods companies such as Glaxosmithkline, Bayer, Johnson & Johnson and Reckitt Benckiser.
Ian Read, chairman and chief executive of Pfizer, said: “We remain on track to make this decision, which could include everything from a full or partial separation to ultimately deciding to retain the business, during 2018.”
Pfizer said that it expected revenue of between $53.5 billion to $55.5 billion this year.
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Shares in the group closed down by 3.1 per cent at $37.80 in New York last night amid a wider sell-off in healthcare companies.