Novo Nordisk operating profit up 43 pct in 2015

Multinational pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk of Denmark on Wednesday announced a 43-percent increase in its operating profit in 2015.

Operating profit rose 43 percent year-on-year to 49.4 billion Danish kroner (7.2 billion U.S. dollars) last year, the company said in a statement.

Net profit increased by 32 percent to 34.9 billion kroner (5.1 billion dollars), compared with that of 2014.

The company's total revenue increased by 22 percent year-on-year to 107.9 billion kroner (15.8 billion dollars), while sales of its flagship diabetes drug Victoza increased by 34 percent in Danish kroner terms in 2015.

"We are very pleased with Novo Nordisk's performance in 2015 and the achievement of our four long-term financial targets," said the company's president and CEO Lars Rebien Sorensen.

In 2016, the company is expected to achieve a 5- to 9-percent growth in sales and operating profit in local currencies. The expectation has been adjusted due to the partial divestment of NNIT, a Danish consultancy in IT development, implementation and operations, and the company's income from the out-licensing of assets for inflammatory disorders.

With a global value market share of 28 percent, Novo Nordisk has updated its long-term target for operating profit growth to 10 percent.

Nevertheless, the outlook for 2016 has disappointed some investors, as Novo Nordisk's shares dropped Wednesday by more than 6 percent after the first minutes of trading at the Copenhagen Stock Exchange. Endi