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UPDATE 1-Drugmaker Orion's Q2 profit slightly below forecast

Tue Aug 5, 2008 5:58am EDT

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HELSINKI, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Finnish drugmaker Orion (ORNBV.HE) reported a slightly lower-than-expected rise in second-quarter operating profit on Tuesday, hit by cuts in its portfolio and the weak U.S. dollar.

Orion's April-June operating profit rose 3 percent to 45.2 million euros ($70.5 million), at the lower end of expectations in a Reuters poll of seven analysts, which ranged from 45 million to 56 million.

"The result was a little bit soft, but overall as expected," said Pohjola analyst Anita Kostermaa.

The drugmaker said sales grew 8 percent to 180 million euros during the quarter year-on-year, but were weakened by the end of the licence agreement for the Calcimagon osteoporosis drug, marketed in Germany, which expired at the end of 2007.

"It was disappointing to see that deliveries of their Parkinson's disease medicine to Novartis are expected to be at the same level as last year," Kostermaa said.

At the end of the first quarter Orion had said it expected the deliveries of that drug to grow compared to previous year's levels.

Orion repeated it expects 2008 sales and operating profit, excluding one-off items, to grow slightly year-on-year.

The company said it has entered into new in-licensing agreements to expand its product portfolio in Europe, but said it would take some time for the new products to bear fruit in sales.

"The increase in net sales as a result of these new agreements will take some time," Chief Executive Timo Lappalainen said in a statement.

Shares in Orion were up 0.9 percent at 13.06 euros by 0930 GMT, roughly in line with the Helsinki bourse general index . (Reporting by Agnieszka Flak; additional reporting by Julie Breton; editing by Tony Austin)



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