Boehringer eyes marked sales gain, boosted by animal health
INGELHEIM, Germany, April 5 (Reuters) - Boehringer Ingelheim, Germany's second-largest drugmaker, said on Wednesday it was targeting a marked gain in 2017 revenues, boosted by new animal health businesses it acquired from Sanofi.
Unlisted Boehringer on Jan. 1 wrapped up an asset swap that saw Boehringer take Sanofi's $13.5 billion animal care subsidiary, making it Europe's largest player in the industry.
In return, Sanofi obtained the German company's consumer health care business unit, valued at nearly $8 billion, plus a $5.5 billion cash payment from Boehringer.
Boehringer, which invented mass production of baking powder in the 1890s and which collaborates on diabetes drugs with Eli Lilly, posted a 7.1 percent gain in sales to 15.9 billion euros ($17.0 billion) last year.
Operating income jumped 27 percent to 2.9 billion euros, helped by an upfront payment of almost $600 million from U.S. drugmaker AbbVie for the marketing rights to a promising experimental psoriasis treatment.
($1 = 0.9368 euros) (Reporting by Patricia Weiss; Writing by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Maria Sheahan)