A logo on the headquarters of Roche Holding AG in Basel, Switzerland, on Thursday, February 1, 2024.
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Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche reported a slight increase in first-quarter sales on Wednesday, at the same time as slowing demand for its Covid-19 products continued to weigh on the corporate.
Sales rose 2% at constant exchange rates, driven by stronger demand for Roche’s newer drugs and diagnostics, the corporate said. Excluding Covid-19 products, sales increased 7%.
However, in the corporate’s local currency, sales fell, falling 6% resulting from the strong Swiss franc.
Roche CEO Thomas Schinecker confirmed the corporate’s 2024 outlook on Wednesday, saying the corporate is basically out of the woods after the post-Covid-19 slump.
“After this quarter, the impact of COVID-19 on sales is largely behind us,” he said.
Roche had made a more modest statement than expected Growth prospects for 2024 In February, Reuters reported as the corporate continues to face a decline in demand for its Covid-19 products and various its cancer drugs.
At that point, the corporate forecast that annual consolidated sales would grow by a mid-single-digit percentage on a relentless currency basis.
“We are confident that we will increase our consolidated sales this year (at constant exchange rates) in the mid-single-digit range and therefore confirm our outlook for 2024,” Schinecker said on Wednesday.
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