Johnson & Johnson, the world's largest maker of health-care products, Tuesday raised its forecast for 2008 earnings and reported increased profits for the second quarter thanks to strong foreign sales, dpa reported.
The New Jersey-based company said earnings rose 8 per cent over the same period last year, as the company exchanged foreign currency for the weak US dollar, accounting for about two-thirds of the company's revenue growth.
The currency boost helped turn a 1.3 per cent decline for the company's drug unit, its biggest division, into a 4.4 per cent gain, Bloomberg financial news service reported.
On the product side, baby-care products and Zyrtec allergy pills helped offset downturns for the anemia drug Procrit, the antipsychotic Risperdal, and the unit that makes Cypher heart stents.
The company increased its forecast for 2008 earnings to 4.45 to 4.50 dollars a share, from the 4.40 to 4.45 dollars projected in April.
Second quarter revenue rose 8.7 per cent to 16.5 billion dollars. Earnings were 3.3 billion dollars.