Norway's Equinor makes gas find in Barents Sea
Preliminary estimates indicate a discovery of between 0.3 billion and 0.5 billion standard cubic metres of recoverable gas equivalent, corresponding to between 1.9 million and 3.1 million barrels of oil equivalent, the directorate said.
The licensees will evaluate the discovery with regard to a possible tie-in to the Johan Castberg field, it added.
Equinor is the operator and owns 46.3% of the permit. Vaar Energi holds 30% and Norwegian state-owned oil firm Petoro owns the remaining 23.7%.
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Novo Nordisk slides further on US competition, new CEO concerns
COPENHAGEN, July 30 (Reuters) - Shares in Wegovy maker Novo Nordisk fell further on Wednesday as analysts warned of persistent competition from copycat drugs in the United States, a day after a profit warning and the naming of a new CEO prompted investors to wipe $70 billion off the drugmaker's value. Novo Nordisk slashed its outlook for 2025 sales growth on Tuesday and said it had appointed veteran insider Maziar Mike Doustdar as its new CEO, tasked with reviving its performance in the United States, the largest market for weight-loss drugs. Novo said the lower sales outlook reflected competition from "compounded" copycats to Wegovy, custom-made medicines that are based on the same ingredients as branded drugs, which took investors by surprise. While Novo said it was intensifying its efforts to regain patients taking copycat drugs and limit unlawful compounding, analysts at Guggenheim said Novo's new 2025 guidance did not assume compounding volumes coming down. Its shares closed down 23% on Tuesday after tumbling as much as 30%. On Wednesday, they had fallen a further 4.1% by 1257 GMT. Novo became Europe's most valuable listed company following the launch of Wegovy in 2021 but its shares have fallen by two-thirds since peaking in June last year on concerns the drugmaker is losing ground in the obesity drug race. Despite the problems, incoming CEO Doustdar said on an investor call on Tuesday that "we are having a fantastic growth right now with Wegovy". "This has really become a severe credibility issue," said Barclays analyst Emily Field. "They don't view the issues that they have as severely as the market does, and that's creating a big problem." Doustdar told investors a priority will be to move faster and improve "commercial execution" but did not reveal any new strategic direction. He currently heads all commercial units globally, minus the United States, which according to analysts at TD Cowen had been "a brighter spot in Novo's commercial efforts, which could help to buoy the current platform as the pipeline advances". Barclays downgraded the stock to "equal-weight" from "overweight". Bank of America also downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "buy".
Reuters
5 hours ago
- Reuters
Novo Nordisk shares fall further as new CEO faces US challenges
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Reuters
a day ago
- Reuters
Obesity drugmaker Novo Nordisk plunges as it cuts forecasts again
COPENHAGEN, July 29 (Reuters) - Obesity drugmaker Novo Nordisk ( opens new tab on Tuesday cut its full-year sales and operating profit forecasts for the second time this year, sending its shares down as much as 17%. The maker of weight-loss drug Wegovy is struggling to convince investors it can remain competitive in the obesity drug boom against U.S. rival Eli Lilly (LLY.N), opens new tab. Novo shares have fallen sharply over the past year. "The lowered sales outlook for 2025 is driven by lower growth expectations for the second half of 2025," the company said in a statement. "This is related to lower growth expectations for Wegovy in the U.S. obesity market, lower growth expectations for Ozempic in the U.S. GLP-1 diabetes market, as well as lower-than-expected penetration for Wegovy in select IO (International Operations) markets," it said. Novo now expects 2025 sales growth of 8%-14% in local currencies, down from its previous 13%-21% forecast range. It also lowered its operating profit growth estimate to 10%-16%, from 16-24% previously. Sales rose 18% year-on-year in both the second quarter and the first half of the year, Novo said. Its operating profit increased by 40% in the April-June quarter and by 29% in the first half, the company added. Booming sales of Wegovy catapulted Novo to become Europe's most valuable listed company in 2024, peaking at about 615 billion euros, but the value has since fallen by more than half. CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen was ousted in May by Novo and its controlling shareholder, the Novo Nordisk Foundation, but will remain in his position until a successor is appointed. The company is scheduled to release full second-quarter earnings on August 6.
