Abbott's quarterly profit halves as costs soar

[BENGALURU] Diversified healthcare company Abbott Laboratories reported a 55 per cent drop in quarterly profit on Thursday, hurt by higher costs.

The company's net profit from continuing operations fell to US$270 million, or 15 US cents per share, in the second quarter ended June 30 from US$599 million, or 40 US cents per share, a year earlier.

Total operating cost and expenses surged 37.5 per cent to US$6.21 billion.

However, net sales rose to US$6.64 billion from US$5.33 billion.

Abbott, which closed its US$25 billion acquisition of St Jude Medical in January, agreed to buy troubled diagnostics company Alere Inc for a revised value of US$5.30 billion in April.

REUTERS