Hospira Inc. on Wednesday reported a hefty first-quarter loss because of acquisition-related charges, but the Lake Forest-based specialty pharmaceutical and medication-delivery firm said its underlying profit performance indicates its “year is off to a good start.”
Hospira had a net loss of $29.4 million, or 19 cents a diluted share, compared to net income in the year-ago quarter of $80.2 million, or 49 cents a share. Sales, helped by two months’ contribution from its acquisition of Australia-based Mayne Pharma Ltd., rose 18 percent, to $782.8 million.
Expenses associated with the Mayne purchase totaled $133 million on a pretax basis and were a major drag on Hospira’s results. They included a big but routine accounting charge, integration expenses and inventory valuation adjustments.
Adjusted to exclude non-recurring items, Hospira said, earnings would have been $93.9 million, or 59 cents a share, down 9 percent from the year-ago quarter’s adjusted $103.2 million, or 63 cents a share. On that basis, analysts had expected earnings of 53 cents a share.
Hospira, spun off from North Chicago-based Abbott Laboratories in 2004, said it continues to expect full-year sales will be in the range of $3.40 billion to $3.48 billion, which represents a year-over-year increase of between 26 percent and 29 percent. Excluding the contribution from Mayne, Hospira expects sales growth in the range of 3 percent to 5 percent.
Excluding one-time items, the company said it expects per-share earnings between $2.11 and $2.16 for all of 2007.
“We continue to expect 2007 will mark another year of significant progress for Hospira,” said Chief Executive Christopher Begley, “as we build on the momentum we’ve created by executing our growth strategies.”
“The quality of the numbers was high,” Morgan Stanley analyst Matt Miksic told Bloomberg News. “We think investors will be pushing management a little to increase their outlook, given the upside.”
Shares of Hospira gained $1.01, to $41.84, on the New York Stock Exchange.
In other earnings news:
– News Corp., the media company run by Rupert Murdoch, said third-quarter profit rose 6 percent on the box-office success of “Night at the Museum” and increased revenue from Fox News.
The New York-based firm posted net income of $871 million, or 27 cents a share, up from $820 million, or 26 cents a share, a year ago. The latest result was in line with estimates. Revenue rose 21 percent, to $7.53 billion.
News Corp., which last week offered to buy Dow Jones & Co. for $5 billion, reported an 82 percent surge in profit in its movie unit. Higher rates at Fox News helped boost cable-network profit 34 percent. The publishing unit, whose 175 newspapers included the New York Post, reported a 2 percent profit gain.
News Corp. stock fell 42 cents, to $21.33, in NYSE trading.
– Integrys Energy Group Inc. said first-quarter net income more than doubled, to $140.2 million, or $2.41 a share, from $60.9 million, or $1.48 a share, a year earlier. Revenue climbed 38 percent, to $2.75 billion. Chicago-based Integrys was formed in February when WPS Resources Corp. and Peoples Energy Corp. merged.
Integrys stock rose 75 cents, to $60.21, in NYSE trading.
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jpmiller@tribune.com
