Roche maintains targets as currency pressure eases

Roche’s nine-month sales rose 6% at constant exchange rates, meeting the company’s own target as currency pressure eased during the third quarter. The Basel-based pharmaceutical group reported CHF 46.5 billion in revenue from January to September 2026. Measured in Swiss francs, sales increased by 1%. The gap between those growth rates reflects the effect of currency movements on a company that reports in francs. A weaker franc gave Roche some relief late in the period, following a stronger franc that had weighed on results earlier in the year. On Thursday, October 22, Roche confirmed its full-year guidance. The results largely exceeded analysts’ estimates, Keystone-SDA reported. For investors and employees in Switzerland, the figures show how exchange-rate shifts can alter the reported performance of a multinational even as its underlying sales grow. Roche’s targets remain tied to constant exchange rates.

The currency effect improved from -11% in the first quarter to +1% in the third. Roche had faced a clear drag from the strong Swiss franc in the first half of 2026: the impact was -11% in the first quarter and -4% in the second. The franc’s depreciation in the third quarter turned that pressure into a slight tailwind, with currency effects reaching +1%. That shift helped support the company’s reported Swiss-franc sales growth, which was 1% for the nine-month period, compared with 6% at constant exchange rates. The quarterly figures trace a marked change in the direction of currency effects over the year. Roche said the third-quarter relief was broadly in line with analysts’ expectations. The exchange-rate improvement does not change the basis of the company’s full-year sales target, which remains expressed at constant exchange rates.

Pharmaceuticals generated CHF 36.2 billion in sales, up 2% in the first nine months. Roche’s five named growth drivers, Xolair, Hemlibra, Ocrevus, Phesgo and Vabysmo, together brought in CHF 16.8 billion, a 12% increase. Their growth contrasted with falling sales of older products that have lost patent protection. Avastin, Herceptin, MabThera/Rituxan, Lucentis and Actemra/RoActemra collectively declined by CHF 600 million. The diagnostics division recorded CHF 10.3 billion, broadly level with the previous year. Roche said the negative impact of China’s price reform had eased noticeably as the year progressed. The division’s revenue had fallen 7% in the first quarter and 3% in the first half, before reaching the nine-month result. Together, the two divisions show different patterns: growth among the key pharmaceutical medicines and stabilisation in diagnostics.

Roche kept its full-year targets unchanged, with management led by chief executive Thomas Schinecker reaffirming its outlook on Thursday. At constant exchange rates, the group expects sales to rise by a mid-single-digit percentage this year. It forecasts high-single-digit growth in core earnings per share and remains committed to increasing its dividend in Swiss francs. The guidance follows nine-month sales growth of 6% at constant exchange rates, which met Roche’s target basis for the period. Currency effects improved in the third quarter, but the company’s stated growth expectations continue to use constant exchange rates. Roche does not traditionally report profit figures for odd-numbered quarters, so the guidance provides the company’s earnings outlook alongside its reported sales. For Swiss shareholders, the dividend commitment is specifically framed in francs, while the sales and core earnings targets are measured at constant exchange rates.