Daiichi Sankyo's cancer franchise carried its half-year to September, and the group's healthcare unit is on a slow route out of the door. Revenue rose 19.7% to ¥1.17tn, and core operating profit rose 46.9% to ¥221.3bn.
What drove the numbers
The oncology business unit reported revenue of ¥422.6bn, up 54.8%. Enhertu revenue was ¥373.8bn, up 46.0%, with the US at ¥271.0bn and Europe at ¥102.8bn. Datroway rose to ¥40.1bn from ¥10.1bn. A weaker yen helped: the dollar averaged ¥159.37 against ¥146.04 a year earlier, and currency added ¥73.9bn to revenue and ¥22.7bn to core operating profit.
Selling and administrative costs rose 26.3% to ¥466.1bn, which the company attributes partly to a larger profit share with AstraZeneca. Operating profit rose a slower 34.4% to ¥193.8bn because of restructuring costs at its EU specialty unit, and profit attributable to owners rose 15.8% to ¥151.5bn.
The company changed its definition of core operating profit this period and restated the prior year on the new basis. Foreign-exchange gains and losses will be excluded from core profit only from the year ending March 2028.
The staged sale
Daiichi Sankyo agreed in April 2026 to sell all of Daiichi Sankyo Healthcare to Suntory Holdings for a planned ¥246.5bn, a figure that may change under price-adjustment terms. The first 30% went on 1 July 2026, so this is not a new completion. A further 40% is due on 1 June 2027, when the company expects to lose control, and the remainder on 1 June 2029.
Because control passes only at the second step, the two transfers are accounted for as one transaction. A ¥53.0bn gap between consideration and cost is carried as a payable and will be recognised as revenue when control is lost. Until then the healthcare unit, which earned ¥48.3bn in revenue, stays in the consolidated figures.