By Cecilia Butini

Sanofi SA said Wednesday that net profit rose in the second quarter due in part to an exceptional gain and that it has raised its guidance for business earnings per share for the year.

The French pharmaceutical company said net profit in the quarter jumped to 7.6 billion euros ($8.9 billion) from a loss of EUR87 million in the same period a year prior. It booked a EUR7.3 billion gain on a share repurchase transaction completed in May with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Net sales declined to EUR8.2 billion from EUR8.63 billion, mainly due to decreased vaccine sales, which were affected by confinements during the coronavirus pandemic.

Analysts polled by FactSet gave a consensus estimate for sales of EUR8.55 billion. Sanofi previously said it expected the favorable impact of the coronavirus pandemic on sales in the first quarter to be offset in the second and forecast a single-digit sale decline in the second quarter compared with the same period in 2019.

Business net income, a figure used to indicate income excluding the impact of acquisitions and divestments, was EUR1.6 billion in the second quarter compared with EUR1.54 billion a year earlier, the company said.

It now expects business EPS to grow between 6% and 7% at constant exchange rates for 2020, up from a previous forecast for a 5% rise.

Write to Cecilia Butini at cecilia.butini@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 29, 2020 02:29 ET (06:29 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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