Novartis on goal to hit mid-30s margins by 2022

Novartis is on track to achieve profit margins in the mid-30s, plans to spend about 5% of market cap per year on M&A and business development and licensing, and will complete a $5 billion share buyback program by the end of 2019, CEO Vas Narasimhan and CFO Harry Kirsch told reporters and investors this week.

Kirsch reiterated Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS; SIX:NOVN) plans to focus on bolt-on acquisitions in a briefing to reporters on Wednesday. “We simply see that in large acquisitions too often value is destroyed and usually in larger acquisitions you do a lot of synergies which then create disruptions that would never be good for our rich pipeline in research and development.” He said Novartis will spend up to about $10 billion annually on M&A and business development (see “IFM Tre Deal Offers Glimpse into Novartis’ M&A Future”)...