UCB reports ‘strong business performance’

UCB has announced its financial results for the 2006 fiscal year, reporting a “strong” business performance throughout the year and noting strategic progress in the company’s quest to become a next-generation leader in the biopharmaceutical industry.

The company generated revenues of 2.5 billion euros (1.69 billion pounds) during 2006, an increase of eight per cent over 2005, with this growth driven in the main by the performance of Keppra in Europe and the USA.

Profit from continuing operations rose 36 per cent in 2006, reaching 367 million euros, while the company proposed a gross dividend to its shareholders of 0.9 euros per share.

Roch Doliveux, chief executive officer of UCB, said: “2006 was another landmark year for UCB where we made significant progress in implementing the strategy set up three years ago of becoming a next-generation biopharmaceutical leader focused on selected severe diseases.”

He added that the company’s double-digit growth had come in a year with increased investments in research and development, with the firm also spending more on sales and marketing.

The company reported that it was “delighted” with the acquisition of Schwarz Pharma during 2006, a transaction that gives UCB a broader and more robust pharmaceutical product portfolio.

Last month, UCB announced that a group of investors and Financiere de Tubize had purchased 13.89 million shares in the company from the Schwarz family.