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

BERLIN (AP) - 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.