Johnson & Johnson raises full-year guidance after profit jump

Company makes more than $5.6bn in three months to June

Johnson & Johnson's earnings per share rose 8.9 per cent to $1.96 in the latest quarter. AFP

Johnson & Johnson has raised its 2023 full-year guidance after reporting a 7 per cent jump in its second-quarter net profit, driven by increased sales.

The company on Thursday reported a net profit of more than $5.1 billion in the three months to the end of June.

Sales during the period rose 6.3 per cent annually to more than $25.5 billion, exceeding the analysts’ expectation of $24.6 billion. Earnings per share rose 8.9 per cent to $1.96.

The company said it expects full-year sales between $98.8 billion and $99.8 billion, nearly $1 billion up from the guidance provided in April.

“Our robust performance in the second quarter is a testament to the hard work and commitment of our colleagues around the world,” said chief executive Joaquin Duato.

“We are entering the back half of the year from a position of strength with numerous catalysts, including becoming a two-sector company focused on pharmaceutical and MedTech innovation.”

The company’s shares, which have dropped almost 11 per cent since the start of the year, were trading 5.8 per cent higher at $167.94 at 6.40pm UAE time on Thursday.

The New Jersey company earned more than half of its revenue, or more than $13.4 billion, from the US markets and the rest ($12 billion) from the international markets in the second quarter.

J&J's pharmaceutical business, that developed the Covid-19 vaccine, accounted for nearly 54 per cent of the company's overall sales in the April to June period

The division added about $13.7 billion, 3.1 per cent more year-on-year, to total sales in the quarter.

Sales in the company’s MedTech business rose 12.9 per cent annually to nearly $7.8 billion in the second quarter. Its growth was driven primarily by products related to interventional solutions, contact lenses, general surgery, advanced surgery and orthopaedics, J&J said.

The company's consumer health business, which makes products such as Neutrogena face wash and Listerine, contributed about 15.7 per cent, or more than $4 billion of overall sales during the quarter.

J&J said the segment’s growth was propelled by the sale of over-the-counter products.

April to June quarterly earnings did not include any US sales from the J&J’s Covid vaccine. In April, the company said it expected no revenue in the US market after the first quarter as its commitments under government contracts were completed.

However, the shot added $285 million in international revenue.