UPDATE 1-Takeda Q3 profit down 25.6 pct; keeps outlook

* Q3 recurring profit 114.4 bln yen vs 153.6 bln yen year ago

* Keeps annual outlook at Y400 bln vs Y418.3 bln consensus

* Profit depressed by strong yen, sluggish drug sales

* Shares close up 0.1 pct ahead of results

TOKYO, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Takeda Pharmaceutical (4502.T), Japan's biggest drugmaker, posted a 25.6 percent fall in quarterly profit, the lowest in three quarters, hit by a strong yen and sluggish U.S. sales, and it kept its full-year forecast.

The absence of a major new drug launch and stiff competition have weighed on Takeda's earnings, and its long-term outlook has been clouded by delays in the expected approval of a successor to its top-selling diabetes drug Actos.

Aiming to offset the impact of patent expirations on key drugs, Takeda bought U.S. biotech firm Millennium Pharmaceutical, absorbed its part of a former U.S. joint venture and has said it may make an acquisition to help it enter the generic drug business in emerging markets. [ID:nBOM454753]

The Osaka-based company, led by president Yasuchika Hasegawa, posted a pre-tax recurring profit of 114.4 billion yen for the October-December quarter, down from 153.6 billion yen in the same period a year ago.

Takeda kept its recurring profit forecast for the full year to March 2010 unchanged at 400 billion yen.

The company's forecast falls short of the market consensus of 418.3 billion yen, according to a survey of 17 analysts by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Astellas Pharma (4503.T), Japan's No.2 drugmaker, said on Tuesday its nine-month recurring profit fell 24 percent on the strong yen and tough competition, especially on its mainstay transplant drug which has already lost U.S. patent protection.

Takeda shares have risen about 11 percent in the past 3 months, outperforming the benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average .N225 which gained 6 percent.

Prior to the results, Takeda's stock rose 0.1 percent to 4,060 yen. The Nikkei gained 0.3 percent. (Reporting by Yumiko Nishitani; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)