Johnson & Johnson says 1Q06 earnings up 16% on $12.992 billion of sales

By Angela McDaniels

Seattle, April 18 - Johnson & Johnson Inc. said its sales increased slightly to $12.99 billion for the first quarter of 2006 from $12.83 billion for the first quarter of 2005.

U.S. sales were up 1.6% and international sales increased 0.8%, reflecting 6.1% operational growth and a negative 5.3% currency impact.

Operational growth was 3.5% with a negative currency impact of 2.3%, according to a company news release.

Net earnings increased 16% to $3.31 billion, or $1.10 per share, for the first quarter of 2006 from $2.84 billion, or $0.94 per share, for the first quarter of 2005.

Johnson & Johnson said the first quarter of 2006 included an after-tax gain of $368 million associated with the termination of its Guidant acquisition agreement and after-tax research and development charges of $29 million associated with the acquisitions of Hand Innovations LLC and Future Medical Systems SA.

Excluding the impact of these items, net earnings for the quarter increased by 4.5% to $2.966 billion, or $0.99 per share, from the same period in 2005, according to the release.

Additionally, the board of directors approved a stock repurchase program on March 8 for up to $5 billion of the company's common stock.

Johnson & Johnson is a research and development company based in New Brunswick, N.J.

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