Salix Pharmaceuticals Sees 2014 Above View - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Pharmaceutical products and medical devices company Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (SLXP) provided an update regarding business operations and fiscal 2014 revenue and earnings per share guidance.

The company said that, following the completion of its acquisition of Santarus on January 2, 2014, it is on track with its integration plan and is ahead of internal expectations in certain key areas such as field sales reorganization and hiring. Central to the integration is realigning the Company's sales efforts to create complementary sales forces to drive accelerating revenue growth for Salix's expanded product portfolio.

The company noted that the majority of field sales managers are currently in place, and more than 90 percent of overall hiring of additional sales representatives is complete. The expanded team will be close to 100 percent operational upon the completion of final sales training during the Company's 2014 National Sales Meeting in late February.

The company anticipates that its expanded sales effort will generate approximately $1.6 billion in total product revenue for 2014, EBITDA of approximately $650 million and approximately $6.09 in non-GAAP earnings per share. Based on a tax benefit that will not be finalized until later in the year, there could be potential upside to the Company's non-GAAP earnings per share number of $6.09. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report earnings of $5.04 per share and revenues of $1.57 biillion for fiscal 2014. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

On a non-GAAP basis for 2014, the company anticipates research and development expenses to be approximately $180 million and selling, general and administrative expenses to be approximately $450 million.

The company expects GAAP net income to be $230 million, and non-GAAP net income of $420 million for 2014.

The 2014 guidance excludes integration and transaction expenses.

The company expects the enrollment of the last patient into the double-blind phase to be completed by the end of January 2014 in TARGET 3, its Phase 3 study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of repeat treatment with rifaximin 550 mg TID, or three times daily, for 14 days in subjects with irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea, or IBS-D, who responded to an initial treatment course of open label rifaximin 550 mg TID for 14 days. The study is and will remain blinded until completion of the entire trial. The Company anticipates top-line data for the study will be available by mid-July 2014.

Salix Pharmaceuticals said in last November that it agreed to acquire specialty biopharmaceutical company Santarus, Inc. for $32.00 per share in an all-cash deal valued at about $2.6 billion, without interest.