Sales & Earnings In Brief

Abbott takes global view: Abbott Laboratories expects tighter spending on consumer products to affect its U.S. nutritional business more than international sales, which were a key driver in the firm's latest earnings period. "I think any concern of economic slowdown is a little more U.S.-focused," Chief Financial Officer Thomas Freyman says Oct. 15 during Abbott's third-quarter earnings call. Consumers see both pediatric and adult nutritional products "as more core to their essential as opposed to discretionary-type items," he adds. The Abbott Park, Ill.-based firm's international nutritional sales increased 22.2 percent to $629 million, but 5.5 percent of the growth was from the positive impact of currency exchange, according to a same-day release. Worldwide nutritional sales grew 14.5 percent to $1.26 billion, with U.S. sales up 7.8 percent to $633 million. The company says pediatric products accounted for $668 million of the nutritional total, a 10.8 percent increase, and adult products reached $584 million, up 19.1 percent. Abbott expects to start manufacturing nutritionals at a Singapore facility in early 2009 (1"The Tan Sheet" Oct. 22, 2007, p. 9). "It will be a much more convenient way to supply the Asian market, which currently we're supplying out of our European facilities," Investor Relations VP John Thomas says