Sanofi-Aventis reported a 10 percent increase in fourth quarter net profit Wednesday as strong sales of its vaccine against the swine flu drove higher than expected earnings for the year.
France's largest drug maker said net profit rose 10.4 percent in the three months ending Dec. 31 to euro1.8 billion ($2.5 billion), up from euro1.63 billion a year earlier.
The company, whose Sanofi Pasteur division is the world's biggest vaccines manufacturer, said the fourth quarter performance was lifted by record high growth in revenue from its human vaccines business of 64.6 percent.
Sales of 100 million doses of pandemic vaccines last year helped lift earnings per share on an adjusted basis by 13.1 percent at constant exchange rates, above the 11 percent target Sanofi-Aventis had set in October.
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