Eli Lilly announces second-quarter results

Eli Lilly has announced its financial results for the second quarter of the 2007 fiscal year, with the firm reporting “strong” figures and consequently increasing its sales and earnings-per-share guidance for the full year.

During the quarter, the company generated reported sales of $4.631 billion (2.251 billion pounds), an increase of 20 per cent over the same quarter last year.

Reported net income in the quarter fell from $822 million in 2006 to $663.3 million, while earnings per share were $0.61, down from $0.76 in the comparable quarter in 2006.

As a result of these figures, Lilly has raised its sales guidance, forecasting mid-teen growth in reported sales, while increasing its reported earnings-per-share guidance to between $2.75 and $2.85.

Sidney Taurel, chairman and chief executive officer of Lilly, said: “We are very pleased to have delivered another quarter of strong financial results.

“We are encouraged by our outlook for the remainder of the year.”

He added that the growth in the second quarter was driven by the performance of products launched in the past decade, specifically Cymbalta.

In April 2007, Lilly completed its acquisition of privately-held neuroscience drug-discovery firm Hypnion for the sum of $315 million.