Sanofi Reports Q2 Results: Sales Decline, Business Net Profit Beats Expectations

Sanofi, the French pharmaceutical company, announced its second-quarter results on Friday. Here are the key details:

Sales

• Sales for the second quarter dropped to 9.965 billion euros ($10.94 billion) from EUR10.12 billion in the same period last year, falling short of analysts’ expectations of EUR10.04 billion.
• According to consensus estimates compiled by Vara Research.

Business Net Profit

• Sanofi achieved a quarterly business net profit of EUR2.18 billion, marking a 0.3% increase compared to the previous year.
• The result beat consensus forecasts of EUR2.09 billion according to the Vara consensus.
• Business earnings per share stood at EUR1.74, reflecting an 8.1% increase at constant currency.
• Analysts at UBS noted that the profit beat was driven by lower-than-anticipated expenses.

Key Points to Watch

Guidance

• Sanofi revised its 2023 guidance, now expecting growth in business EPS in a range of mid-single percentage digits at constant currency.
• The previous guidance called for growth of low single digits.
• Factors behind the outlook upgrade include the strong performance of Sanofi’s best-selling drug Dupixent, rare-disease treatments, and projected EUR400 million in Covid-19 vaccine sales in the second half, according to Citi analysts.

Currency Effects

• Sanofi highlighted that changes in foreign-exchange rates will have a bigger impact on 2023 business EPS than previously anticipated.
• The impact is now projected to be between 6.5% and 7.5%, compared to the initial forecast of 5.5%-6.5% from the first-quarter results.
• Despite the guidance upgrade, the Citi analysts believe that stronger foreign-exchange headwinds will likely keep consensus estimates unchanged.

Dupixent

• Revenue generated by Dupixent, Sanofi’s blockbuster anti-inflammatory drug developed in partnership with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, reached EUR2.56 billion in the quarter.
• This represents a 34% increase at constant currency.
• Analysts polled by FactSet had expected quarterly Dupixent sales of EUR2.55 billion.