McKesson Corp.'s earnings rebounded during the second quarter of its fiscal year as its Celesio acquisition and growth in market share helped the San Francisco-based company realize $469 million in net income. Being an authorized distributor of Sovaldi likely helped as well.
The pharmaceutical distributor and information technology firm's earnings rose for the period ended Sept. 30 after certain one-time charges dragged down the company's bottom line during the previous three months. Earnings were also up 16% compared with the $404 million recorded in the year-ago quarter.
CEO John Hammergren, in a news release on Wednesday, called the period “another quarter of solid results reflecting strong execution across our business.”
Overall, McKesson reported total revenue of $44.8 billion for the quarter, an increase of 36% from the $33 billion reported for the same time last year. That was, in large part, due to McKesson's business line known as distribution solutions, which includes revenue from its pharmaceutical and medical-surgical distribution and services divisions. Revenue from that segment grew 37% for the quarter, from $32.2 billion a year ago to $44 billion for the period just ended.
Management attributed that performance largely to heightened demand for two of its drugs used for the treatment of hepatitis C, as well as the recent acquisition of German rival Celesio. While the company did not specify which hep C drugs in its earnings release, McKesson is an authorized Sovaldi distributor, according to Sovaldi-maker Gilead's website.
Those gains were more than enough to offset the slightly dampened revenue news out of its technology solutions component, which dropped 6% for the period.
