Allergan announces 4Q profit drop, cuts 460 jobs

Botox maker Allergan Inc. said Wednesday its fourth-quarter profit dropped 6 percent, and the company plans to lay off about 460 employees, or 5 percent of its work force, as more customers put off cosmetic treatments.

The company said in a conference call that patients are stretching out the time between getting wrinkle treatments, and that therapeutic uses of Botox aren't immune to the economic slowdown, either.

Botox, famous as a wrinkle treatment, is also used as a treatment for certain kinds of neck pain, eyelid spasms and crossed eyes.

Allergan said profit in the quarter fell to $150.6 million, or 50 cents per share, from $160.3 million, or 52 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.

The latest quarter included payments for licensing deals and a $13.2 million settlement related to the end of a distribution agreement in Korea. Excluding those and other special items, adjusted earnings were 76 cents per share.

Revenue fell 3 percent to $1.06 billion from $1.09 billion.

Analysts expected earnings of 73 cents per share on $1.04 billion in revenue. Analyst estimates typically exclude one-time charges.

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Allergan said most of its layoffs will occur in U.S. and European operations, as the company focuses its resources on programs that produce the highest returns. The cuts will focus on U.S. urology sales and marketing employees and marketing staff in both the United States and Europe.

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The company will take pretax charges of between $110 million and $117 million due to the restructuring. The charges will be incurred in this year's first quarter and will continue through 2009.

For 2008, Allergan reported net income of $578.6 million, or $1.89 per share, on $4.34 billion in revenue.

The company also said Wednesday its board of directors declared a fourth-quarter dividend of 5 cents per share, payable March 13 to shareholders of record on Feb. 20.

Allergan shares rose 48 cents, or 1.2 percent, to close at $40.28. The stock has ranged from $28.95 to $69.12 over the past year.