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Eli Lilly meets 4Q forecast
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January 27, 2000: 7:39 a.m. ET
Prozac sales slump doesn't depress earnings; 1999 sales hit $10B
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Greater product diversification allowed drug maker Eli Lilly & Co. to increase earnings by 20 percent in the fourth quarter to meet earnings expectations Thursday.
The Indianapolis-based company had earnings before special items of $671.7 million, or 61 cents a diluted share, in line with the estimates of analysts surveyed by First Call. A year earlier, earnings excluding special items were $561.6 million, or 50 cents a diluted share.
Including charges and items, net income came to $ $786.3 million, or 71 cents a diluted share, compared with $567.3 million, or 51 cents a share, a year earlier.
Revenue rose 7 percent to $2.8 billion in the period from $2.6 a year earlier, as all its major products other than anti-depressant Prozac posted sales gains of at least 16 percent. Prozac sales fell 13 percent in the period, but remained Lilly's best- selling drug.
"As our product line continues to become more diversified, we have become less dependent on Prozac performance," said Sidney Taurel, Lilly's chief executive. "Major products introduced in the last five years accounted for fully one-third of our sales in 1999 and had a combined growth rate of 41 percent during the year."
For the year, the company's earnings before special items was $2.5 billion, or $2.28 a diluted share, compared with $2.2 billion, or $1.93 a share, in 1998. Annual revenue reached $10 billion, a record for the company and an 8 percent increase from 1998.
Shares of Lilly (LLY) gained 7/16 to 62-3/4 in trading Wednesday. 
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Eli Lilly and Company
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