* Q2 EBIT rises to 719 mln DKK, below forecast of 748 mln
* Company sticks to 2009 guidance
* Says key products gaining market share (Adds details, quotes, share price)
By John Acher and Karin Jensen
COPENHAGEN, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Danish drugmaker H. Lundbeck reported a slightly smaller-than-expected rise in operating profits for the second quarter on Thursday and stuck to its full-year 2009 earnings and revenue guidance.
Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) rose to 719 million Danish crowns ($136.4 million) in April-June from 365 million in the same quarter last year.
The result missed an average forecast of 748 million in a Reuters poll of 10 analysts whose EBIT estimates ranged from 563 million to 858 million crowns.
Lundbeck shares erased early gains and dipped 0.2 percent to 107.50 crowns by 0818 GMT, valuing the company at about $4 billion.
Jyske Bank analyst Frank Horning Andersen said the report overall was roughly in line with expectations, with revenues above forecasts due mainly to sales of the group's Cipralex antidepressant and Ebixa drug for Alzheimer's disease.
"EBIT came out lower than expected, and that was mainly due to higher production costs at (the U.S. unit) Lundbeck Inc because of the accounting methods they have used to start up with," he said.
Lundbeck Inc, formerly Ovation Pharmaceuticals, acquired in March, contributed for the first time for a full quarter.
"With our achievements in the first half of the year, we are now well under way to deliver on our financial expectations for 2009," Chief Executive Ulf Wiinberg said in the statement.
Lundbeck maintained its guidance for full-year 2009 EBIT of 2.8 billion to 3.0 billion crowns, EBITDA of 3.5 billion to 3.7 billion and revenues of between 13.1 billion and 13.6 billion crowns.
"As communicated in July, in connection with the takeover of LifeHealth, Lundbeck anticipates EBITDA to be in the high end of the guidance range," the company said.
The report followed generally buoyant results from global pharmaceuticals rivals, reflecting the resilient demand for drugs during the economic downturn.
REVENUES BEAT FORECASTS
Second-quarter revenues grew 17 percent year-on-year to 3.43 billion crowns, above analysts' estimates, which had ranged from 3.20 billion to 3.42 billion crowns.
Lundbeck gets most of its revenue from Cipralex, an antidepressant sold in the United States as Lexapro. The patents on Cipralex expire in major markets in 2012 to 2014, so the company has been scrambling to replace it with new products.
"Key products Cipralex, Ebixa and Azilect all experienced double-digit growth in constant exchange rates and continue to gain market shares," Lundbeck said.
Cipralex sales grew in the second quarter by 9 percent in crowns and by 12 percent at constant exchange rates to 1.35 billion crowns, making up 39 percent of total revenues.
Lundbeck said that final U.S. approval of its Sabril drug for treatment of seizures and spasms was expected within months, but Chief Financial Officer Anders Gotzsche told Reuters approval could come at any moment.
Gotzsche also said that integration of Lundbeck Inc was progressing very well.
Lundbeck also repeated its guidance for R&D expenditure to reach 23-24 percent of revenues this year, but said its tax rate for the full-year 2009 would be 25-26 percent instead of an earlier expectation of about 28 percent.
It said it also expected the tax rate to stay at 25-26 percent in 2010. (Additional reporting by Teis Jensen and Peter Levring) (Reporting by John Acher; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter and Rupert Winchester)