Merck's quarterly operating profit missed expectations today due to a writedown and higher integration expenses.
Fourth-quarter operating profit, driven by cancer and multiple sclerosis drugs and liquid crystals used in TVs and mobile phones, fell 21 per cent to €166.1 million ($244 million), compared with an average estimate of 265 million in a Reuters poll of 19 analysts.
The company took a €54 million charge for Serostim, a drug to treat Aids side effects, and spent a higher-than-expected €75 million on items such as layoffs and office closures following the purchase of biotech group Serono.
Shares in Merck were down 1.1 per cent at €83.63 by 8.15am.
Net profit jumped to €3.4 billion, boosted by the sale of its generics drug unit for €4.9 billion last year. The book value of the unit was less than €1 billion.
Merck has shifted its focus to high-margin branded drugs with the €10.3 billion acquisition of Swiss biotech company Serono. The company sold its generic drugs business to rival Mylan last year to help pay off debt piled up from the Serono purchase.
Serono started contributing to Merck in 2007.