India, Jan. 31 -- Swiss drug-major Novartis AG reported Friday weak net earnings in its fourth quarter on the absence of prior year's significant gain related to Sandoz Group AG spin-off. However, earnings from continuing operations grew from last year, and core earnings beat market estimates along with top line. Further, the company issued positive outlook for fiscal 2025 and lifted its dividend. Following the news, the shares were gaining more than 4 percent in the mid-day trading on the Switzerland market, as well as around 2 percent in pre-market activity on the NYSE.
Vas Narasimhan, CEO of Novartis, said, "With the momentum we are seeing in the business, we expect to continue our strong sales growth with margin expansion in 2025 and w...