Bayer
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
Aleve pain reliever sales advanced 27.5% to $302.3 mil. (E1=$1.33) in 2006 (ended Dec. 31), Bayer announces March 15. One-A-Day achieved sales growth of 5.1% to $165.1 mil. and Alka-Seltzer revenues increased 6.3% to $101 mil. for the year, firm adds. The brands helped drive sales of Bayer's Consumer Health Consumer Care Division, which jumped 7.5% to $3.37 bil. for the year, the company reports, noting it doubled sales of its OTC pharmaceuticals franchise during the year. The Consumer Health segment had net sales of $5.66 bil., representing growth of 8.1%. The company is continuing expansion of the Consumer Health division abroad, particularly in China, with the recent purchase of OTC company Topsun's cough/cold portfolio (1"The Tan Sheet" Oct. 30, 2006, p. 9). The HealthCare group's net sales grew 46.6% to $15.62 bil., and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization before special items soared 75.7% to $3.48 bil. Bayer is targeting underlying EBITDA margin growth of about 27% in HealthCare in 2009...