Chugai Pharmaceutical's revenue rose 14.7% year-on-year to ¥663.3bn in the six months to June 2026, with IFRS operating profit up 16.9% to ¥319.6bn and net profit up 19.2% to ¥231.7bn. On the Core basis the company uses for internal management and shareholder communication, which strips out items such as amortisation and restructuring charges, operating profit grew 21.0% to ¥329.1bn and net profit climbed 23.2% to ¥238.4bn.
The growth came from abroad, not from the domestic market. Overseas product sales rose 14.1% to ¥328.6bn, lifted by higher exports of the haemophilia drug Hemlibra to majority shareholder Roche and a sharp increase in exports of the itch drug NEMLUVIO to licensee Galderma. Other revenue, mostly royalties and one-off licensing payments, jumped 44.5% to ¥96.8bn, of which ¥68.4bn came from Roche alone, up 14.2% on the year.
| Metric | H1 2026 | H1 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue (IFRS) | ¥663.3bn | ¥578.5bn | +14.7% |
| Operating profit (IFRS) | ¥319.6bn | ¥273.3bn | +16.9% |
| Net profit (IFRS) | ¥231.7bn | ¥194.4bn | +19.2% |
| Core operating profit | ¥329.1bn | ¥272.0bn | +21.0% |
| Core net profit | ¥238.4bn | ¥193.5bn | +23.2% |
At home, product sales rose 6.5% to ¥237.9bn despite drug-price revisions and generic competition that cut into sales of the older cancer drug Avastin. Newer specialty products, including the eye drug Vabysmo, the multiple sclerosis treatment Enspryng and the breast-cancer combination Fesgo, along with the recently launched gene therapy Elevidys and the lymphoma drug Lunsumio, more than made up the difference.
R&D spending rose 4.5% to ¥90.2bn, or 13.6% of revenue, while selling and administrative costs rose 7.9% to ¥49.0bn on higher corporate taxes and one-off expenses. Free cash flow rose 84.9% to ¥227.0bn, helped by a smaller working-capital drag than a year earlier.
Chugai left its full-year guidance unchanged from the figures it published on 29 January: Core revenue of ¥1.35tn (up 6.9%), Core operating profit of ¥670bn (up 7.5%) and Core earnings per share of ¥295.00. First-half Core operating profit already covers 49.1% of that full-year target, roughly in line with the pace management had built into its plan.
The headline dividend numbers need a footnote. Chugai has set an interim dividend of ¥66 per share and a full-year forecast of ¥132, against ¥272 paid out for 2025. That comparison overstates the cut: last year's total included a one-off ¥150 special dividend marking the company's 100th anniversary, so the ordinary payout is actually rising, from ¥122 to ¥132. Roche, which holds 59.89% of Chugai's outstanding shares, remains both the company's largest shareholder and one of its largest customers, buying Hemlibra and other products for resale outside Japan.