Perrigo results beat Street forecasts

Generic drugmaker Perrigo yesterday said it has sold its Israeli consumer products marketing arm for NIS 205 million, and also reported better-than-expected quarterly results. The company also lifted its full-year adjusted earnings forecast above market expectations.

The cosmetics business was sold to Emilia Group, a subsidiary of the privately held Israeli company O. Feller Holdings. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2010. Perrigo will continue providing distribution and support services to the cosmetics marketing business for a year after the deal closes.

Meanwhile, for its fiscal first quarter ending on September 26, 2009, Perrigo, which is dual-listed in Tel Aviv and in New York, reported netting $61 million, or 65 cents a share, an increase of 61% compared with the $38.3 million, or 41 cents a share, that the drug company netted in the same period of 2008.

Excluding nonrecurring items, the company earned 66 cents a share from continuing operations in its fiscal first quarter.

Revenue grew about 16% year over year to $528 million, while sales of its store-brand drugs grew 13%, Perrigo said.

Wall Street analysts expected the company to post a profit of 50 cents a share before special items, on revenue of $494.8 million, according to Thomson Reuters.

For the fiscal year, Perrigo now expects adjusted profit from continuing operations in the range of $2.35 a share and $2.45 a share, well above analysts' estimates of a profit of $2.11 a share.