Novartis net profit grows 10 percent in Q2, but sales dip

Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis says its net profit rose 10 percent in the second quarter, helped by gains from divestments.

Novartis said Tuesday that net earnings rose to $1.98 billion in the April-June period from $1.81 billion a year earlier.

Net sales, however, were down 2 percent, slipping to $12.24 billion from $12.47 billion. While sales grew in terms of volume, Novartis said that revenue took a hit from generic competition and pricing.

The Basel-based company reaffirmed its full-year outlook for net sales is broadly in line with last year's and core operating income also remaining steady or declining by a "low single-digit" percentage.

For the year's first half, net profit was off 5 percent at $3.64 billion and sales slipped 1 percent to $23.78 billion.