Vienna - Swiss pharmaceutical group Novartis reported Tuesday that its net profit rose 45 per cent to 3.24 billion dollars (R35 billion) in the third quarter, on the back of growing business in emerging economies.
However, this result contains the one-off effect of 800 million dollars from selling its stake in US-based Idenix Pharmaceuticals.
Revenues climbed 4 per cent to 14.7 billion dollars, compared to the same period last year, Novartis said at its Swiss headquarters in Basel.
Novartis increased sales significantly in China, Brazil, and Russia.
In addition, sales of recently developed products also added to the strong result.
Revenue in this product segment jumped 21 per cent to 4.9 billion dollars.
The operating profit rose 14 per cent to 2.98 billion dollars.
Without the negative effect of the strong franc, the increase would have been 18 per cent. - Sapa-dpa