ZURICH (Reuters) - Two days after announcing a radical overhaul of its structure, Novartis
The Swiss company said first-quarter net profit jumped 24 percent to $2.968 billion (1.768 billion pounds), beating the mean estimate of $2.7 billion in a Reuters poll. Net sales inched up 1 percent to $14.022 billion, compared to the average estimate of $14.246 billion.
The drugmaker's first-quarter results come two days after it announced deals worth over $25 billion to simplify its structure, strengthen its cancer portfolio and exit underperforming businesses.
(Reporting by Caroline Copley)