By Sudip Kar-Gupta
PARIS, Aug 6 (Reuters) - French laboratories and diagnostics company Eurofins EUFI.PA said it hoped to launch more products aimed at detecting the presence of the coronavirus, as it posted an increase in first-half profits, sending its shares to record highs.
Net profits rose 60.9% from a year earlier to 95 million euros ($113 million).
Revenues increased 7.2% to 2.323 billion euros and Eurofins said it was confident of meeting its 2020 financial targets, which include reaching 5 billion euros of revenues.
Eurofins has launched an array of products to detect the presence of SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for the COVID-19 disease, buoying its overall performance.
Eurofins shares were up by around 10% in early session trading, at all-time highs. The stock has risen by roughly 30% since the start of 2020, giving Eurofins a market capitalisation of around 12 billion euros.
"A strong performance across the board," wrote brokerage Jefferies, keeping a 'buy' rating on Eurofins' shares.
($1 = 0.8415 euros)
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Edmund Blair)
((sudip.kargupta@thomsonreuters.com; +33 1 49 49 53 84;))
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
