Abbott  Laboratories has received major blow during the first quarter ended March 2013 after spun out AbbVie Inc. (ABBV) at the start of the year. The net earnings declined sharply by 56.2 per cent to $544 million from $1,242 million in the similar quarter of last year. The company has shown $891 million as earnings from discontinued operations in the last period. The profit before this adjustment increased by 55.4 per cent to $544 million from $351 million.

The net sales increased only by 1.8 per cent to $5,378 million from $5,284 million in the same quarter of last year. Nutrition sales improved by 8.7 per cent to $1,699 million and that of diagnostics moved up by 4.4 per cent to $1,088 million. However, its sales of established pharmaceuticals declined by 1.9 per cent to $1,233 million. Similarly, the sales of medical devices also moved down by 4.6 per cent to $1,328 million.

The established pharmaceuticals is focused on 14 key emerging markets where the demand for healthcare is expanding. These markets include India, Russia, China, Brazil and 10 additional key markets and comprise nearly 50 per cent of segment sales, with expectation that they will comprise a larger portion of the total business over time. Sales in these key emerging markets increased by 8.6 per cent on an operational. The company anticipate key emerging markets to deliver double-digit growth for the current year. The sales in Western Europe and Japan, and other emerging markets declined by 7 per cent to $648 million due to result of the carry-over effects of 2012 European austerity measures and Japan NHI pricing actions.

Worldwide medical devices sales declined by 4.6 per cent to $1,328 million. The sales of  vascular declined by 7.7 per cent to $742 million and that of diabetes care moved down by marginally by 0.5 per cent to $316 million.

The company has confirmed ongoing earnings-per-share guidance or the full year 2013 of $1.98 to $2.04.