By Lucie Barbier and Margaux Perrin
July 30 (Reuters) – Belgian biopharmaceutical group UCB raised its 2026 earnings guidance on Thursday, but its shares fell more than 8% as investors questioned whether some of the first-half earnings outperformance could be repeated in the second half.
Adjusted EBITDA is now expected to grow in the mid-teens to low-twenties percentage range at constant exchange rates, up from a previous forecast of high single-digit to mid-teens growth.
Shares fell 8.5% in early Brussels trading after analysts noted the upgraded guidance appeared to imply second-half EBITDA below market expectations.
Chief Executive Jean-Christophe Tellier acknowledged that some factors supporting first-half earnings would not recur later in the year.
“There have been some elements in the first half of the year that we will not necessarily replicate in the second half of the year, for example the phasing of clinical development,” Tellier told Reuters, adding that spending on clinical development would be higher in the second half.
Analysts had questioned whether part of the first-half outperformance reflected favourable timing effects or other non-recurring items rather than a sustained improvement in underlying earnings.
UCB nevertheless beat first-half revenue forecasts, supported mainly by legacy products.
While the company raised peak sales guidance for blockbuster anti-inflammatory drug Bimzelx to 7 billion euros, first-half sales of the drug came in slightly below expectations.
Tellier said he remained confident in UCB’s growth prospects, citing a portfolio of medicines with no major near-term loss of exclusivity risk, as well as strong clinical data and rising physician confidence that are helping drive prescriptions higher.
UCB, which focuses on severe immune-system and neurological diseases, narrowed its earnings guidance in April to absorb costs linked to acquisitions completed in the first half of 2026.
Looking beyond the current growth cycle, Tellier said those acquisitions were intended to create new growth opportunities beyond 2035.
“Whatever success you have, you will never be successful just with organic growth,” he said.
($1 = 0.8730 euros)
(Reporting by Lucie Barbier and Margaux Perrin; Editing by Matt Scuffham)
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