By Tess Stynes
Allergan PLC swung to a second-quarter loss on charges related
to recent acquisitions and other one-time items.
The results mark the first full quarter since Actavis PLC
completed its roughly $66 billion deal for the maker of wrinkle
treatment Botox in March, forming one of the top 10 drug companies
by sales.
The combined Dublin-based pharmaceutical company renamed itself
as Allergan in June.
Shares fell 2% to $329.86 in recent premarket trading
Allergan and several other health-products companies have been
on a deal-making binge in recent years with the help of low
interest rates, and to cope with pricing pressures and relatively
high U.S. corporate tax rates.
Among Allergan's recent moves, the company last month reached a
deal to sell its generics unit to Teva Pharmaceutical Industries
Ltd., a move expected to provide cash to reduce Allergan's debt
load and allow the company to focus on more lucrative brand-name
drugs. Allergan also is in the process of acquiring double-chin
treatment maker Kythera Biopharmaceuticals Inc. in a $1.2 billion
deal.
The new Allergan also has its foundation in a series of previous
deals. Actavis' predecessor company, Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc.,
acquired Swiss rival Actavis Group in October 2012 for about $5.72
billion and later adopted that name. Later, the company bought
Warner Chilcott PLC and Forest Laboratories Inc. in
multibillion-dollar deals.
Overall, Allergan reported a loss of $243.1 million, or 80 cents
a share, compared with year-earlier earnings of $48.7 million, or
28 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding acquisition-related
charges and other items, per-share earnings rose to $4.41 from
$3.42.
Revenue more than doubled to $5.76 billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-share profit of
$4.38 and revenue of $5.71 billion.
In prepared remarks Thursday, Chief Executive Brett Saunders
said the company's recent agreements to acquire Kythera, Oculeve
and Naurex, and its agreement to license two of Merck's
experimental migraine treatments complement Allergan's existing
products in its eye-care, aesthetics and central-nervous system
businesses.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com
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