Takeda announced Friday a reduction of its full-year net income forecast by 32 percent due to costs related to the 9.6-billion euro ($13.3 billion) takeover of Nycomed and the stronger Japanese currency. Net income is expected to drop to 170 billion yen ($2.2 billion) in the 12 months ending March 2012, reflecting acquisition costs of 77 billion yen ($987 million).
The drugmaker also reported that first-half net income slipped 5.9 percent compared to the year-earlier period to 135.7 billion yen ($1.7 billion), while sales fell 1.6 percent to 702.5 billion yen ($9 billion). "The first-half revenue was largely affected by the stronger yen," remarked Hiroshi Takahara, Takeda's head of finance and accounting, adding that the "business was in line with expectations when the currency impact is removed." The Japanese currency trimmed 28.7 billion yen ($368 million) from sales in the first half, according to the company.
Sales of Actos fell 12.6 percent in the six-month period to 171 billion yen ($2.2 billion), which Masumitsu Inoue, head of the company's business strategy, explained was due to reduced demand after the diabetes drug was linked to a higher risk of bladder cancer. Regulators in both the U.S. and Europe have called for warnings to be added to the label of the product regarding the increased risk.
In other results, revenue from Blopress rose 3.1 percent to 112.3 billion yen ($1.4 billion), while sales of Takepron slipped 17.1 percent to 62.3 billion yen ($799 million). Revenue from the peptic ulcer treatment in the US, where it is known as Prevacid, plunged 50.9 percent to $173 million following patent expiry for the product.