PARIS (Reuters) - Sanofi (PA:SASY) reported lower fourth-quarter earnings on Tuesday, hurt by declining sales in divisions such as diabetes, oncology and prescription drugs, but said it expected 2016 earnings per share to be stable.
The French drugmaker, in the midst of a reorganisation designed to address falling sales of its insulin drug Lantus, said sales of a next-generation basal insulin called Toujeo, which was launched last year in the United States, had more than doubled between the third and the fourth quarter.
Sanofi, which adopted a simplified structure centred around five global business divisions last month, is still negotiating headcount reductions globally and will provide full figures by mid 2016, Chief Executive Olivier Brandicourt told reporters.
In France, the company is considering a voluntary early retirement plan that could lead to about 600 job cuts over three years.
Sanofi said fourth-quarter business net income fell 13.5 percent at constant exchange rates to 1.71 billion euros (1.32 billion pounds). Sales dropped 1.6 percent to 9.28 billion.
Analysts polled by Reuters in partnership with Inquiry Financial had on average been expecting business net profit of 1.69 billion euros and net sales of 9.34 billion.