Sanofi hails return to growth in Q4 2013

Sanofi has published its financial results for the fourth and final quarter of 2013, during which it returned to growth following a challenging period.

During the three months, the company's net sales came to 8.46 billion euros (7.04 billion pounds), up by 6.5 percent on a constant exchange rate basis. For the full year, its 32.95 billion euro total was roughly even with its 2013 performance.

Like many other pharmaceutical companies, Sanofi's business has been impacted in recent months by the expiry of key product patents, but its investments in new growth platforms and expanded operations in emerging markets are now paying dividends. 

Sanofi's chief executive officer Christopher Viehbacher said: "New product launches are underway or imminent in most of Sanofi's core businesses and several high potential research and development projects progressed in 2013, including alirocumab, sarilumab and U300."

The firm has also agreed a number of strategically beneficial new collaborations recently, with new arrangements with Isarna Therapeutics, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and Alnylam announced last month.

In 2014 , Sanofi expects to achieve year on year growth of between four and seven percent, in terms of earnings per share.