- 19Oct
Health care giant Johnson & Johnson says it eked out a 2 percent increase in profit for its third quarter, even though sales were down slightly.
The maker of baby shampoo, contraceptives and biotech drugs has taken a black eye over 13 product recalls in as many months, most of them involving nonprescription medicines such as Tylenol and
Motrin. That's forced the closure of one factory and cut sales of consumer products.Johnson & Johnson now says sales in that division plunged nearly 11 percent in the last quarter.
Other divisions did much better, so J&J's net income edged up to $3.42 billion, or $1.23 per share. Sales for the whole company were $14.98 billion, down almost a percent.
Still, the sales and profit figures both beat the expectations of analysts.