Sales & Earnings In Brief

Perrigo raises guidance: The private label firm raises its full-year fiscal 2009 earnings guidance by 2 cents per share after reaching record sales and earnings in its first quarter, CEO Joe Papa says during a Nov. 6 earnings call. Perrigo says it is increasing earnings guidance to between $1.92 and $2 per share. Net sales climbed 25 percent to $480 million and net income jumped 12 percent to a first-quarter record of $38 million, Papa said. The Allegan, Mich.-based company's consumer health care sales rose to $366.2 million due in part to $66.8 million in new product sales led by its OTC proton pump inhibitor (omeprazole), ceterizine-containing products and Famotidine Complete antacid, according to a same-day release. Perrigo's consumer health care net sales were up 37 percent, an increase of nearly $100 million, Papa said. He noted the firm's recent acquisitions of U.K. private-label supplier Galpharm, Mexican store-brand company Laboratorios Diba and Michigan contract manufacturer JB Labs, and said Perrigo looks to grow more internationally (1"The Tan Sheet" Oct. 13, 2008, p. 3)