(News Bulletin 247) – The pharmaceutical group recorded the strongest increase in the CAC 40, supported by quarterly results slightly above expectations.

While the CAC 40 is suffering this Thursday, dropping 1.3% around 4:20 p.m., Sanofi is playing the airbags. The pharmaceutical group constitutes one of the rare rays of sunshine in the index, gaining 4.9% at the same time and signing by far the largest increase in the CAC.

Lagging behind the market since the start of the year, Sanofi shares benefit from a satisfactory publication for the first quarter which turns out to be “a little above expectations in terms of sales and earnings per share” , summarizes Oddo BHF.

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Strong increase for Dupixent

Over the first three months of the year, Sanofi’s revenues increased by 2.4% in published data to 10.46 billion euros, and by 6.7% excluding currency effects, while the consensus expected 10.27 billion euros in turnover, according to Oddo BHF.

The company was again buoyed by its blockbuster, an anti-inflammatory benefiting from numerous indications such as to treat asthma, atopic dermatitis and which is being evaluated for other potential treatments such as “smoker’s bronchitis”.

Its sales increased by 24.9% in the first quarter for a total of 2.84 billion euros, in line with the consensus. Sanofi judges that this figure “supports the sales objective” for this drug of 13 billion euros this year.

The net profit from the company’s activities, which corresponds to the net profit restated for certain elements and constitutes the group’s main reference indicator, stood at 1.78 euros per share, down 7.4%. But a little above the consensus, which stood at 1.71 euros.

At the end of this quarter, the group confirmed that it expects a “low single digit” decline (i.e. between 1% and 4%) in its net profit from activities per share for 2024.