Abbott (NYSE: ABT) has announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2014. First-quarter 2014 worldwide sales of $5.2 billion increased 0.5 percent on an operational basis and decreased 2.5 percent on a reported basis, including an unfavorable 3.0 percent effect of foreign exchange.
International sales, which comprise more than 70 percent of total Abbott sales, increased 1.8 percent on an operational basis and decreased 2.3 percent on a reported basis in the first quarter. The August 2013 sales disruption in International Nutrition and the timing of supply of key products in Established Pharmaceuticals, primarily related to an expected plant shutdown for capacity expansion purposes, are estimated to have reduced Abbott's international sales growth by approximately 2.6 percentage points.
"We are off to a good start, and we continue to expect accelerating performance beginning in the second quarter as we target another year of double-digit ongoing earnings-per-share growth," said Miles D. White, chairman and chief executive officer, Abbott.
Abbott is confirming its full-year 2014 ongoing earnings-per-share guidance of $2.16 to $2.26, representing double-digit growth at the mid-point of the guidance range.
Abbott continues to forecast net specified items for the full year 2014 of $1.03 per share. Specified items include intangible amortization expense, charges associated with cost reduction initiatives, as well as tax expense associated with a one-time repatriation of 2014 ex-U.S. earnings, partially offset by a favorable adjustment to tax expense related to the resolution of various tax positions from previous years. Including these net specified items, projected earnings per share from continuing operations under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) would be $1.13 to $1.23 for the full year 2014.
About Abbott
Abbott (NYSE: ABT) is a global healthcare company devoted to improving life through the development of products and technologies that span the breadth of healthcare. With a portfolio of leading, science-based offerings in diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and branded generic pharmaceuticals, Abbott serves people in more than 150 countries and employs approximately 69,000 people.