Roche Sees Falling Sales, Profit as Covid Windfall Ebbs (3)

Roche Holding AG forecast falling sales and profit this year amid cratering demand for Covid-19 tests and treatments.

Sales and earnings excluding some items will likely decline in the low single-digit range, the Swiss drugmaker said on Thursday. The company anticipates a sales shortfall of 5 billion Swiss francs ($5.5 billion) due to the Covid plunge. Without that, it pointed to solid underlying sales growth.

The unexpected boon of pandemic revenue had shored up Roche’s results as once top-selling drugs lost market share to cheaper generics. Pressure is growing on the company to deliver results from its portfolio ...