France's biggest drugmaker, Sanofi, which missed out on a major takeover deal last month, said it expected 2017 earnings per share to be stable or slightly lower.
The company today reported fourth-quarter results which were hit by higher taxes and one-off charges.
The group had warned investors in 2015 not to expect any "meaningful" profit growth for two years because of a downturn in its embattled diabetes division.
"In 2017 and beyond we will continue to simplify and reshape the company," the company's chief executive Olivier Brandicourt said.
"We will be supported by our current growth engine businesses: Sanofi Genzyme, vaccines and consumer healthcare," he added.
Under pressure from investors to land a significant acquisition that would help Sanofi resist a tough pricing environment in the US, the world's largest health market, Brandicourt said Sanofi was "not in a hurry to do M&A."
US healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson JNJ.N said last month it would buy Swiss biotech company Actelion in a $30 billion all-cash deal, edging out Sanofi, which also tried to buy the company, according to people familiar with the matter.
Sanofi was also trumped last August by a $14 billion bid for cancer specialist Medivation which came from Pfizer.
Sanofi said its fourth-quarter business net income fell 2.9% at constant exchange rates to €1.61 billion. Total sales rose 3.4% to €8.87 billion.
Analysts polled by Reuters had on average been expecting business net profit of €1.57 billion and net sales of €8.94 billion.
Sanofi said its fourth-quarter effective tax rate had reached 24% compared with 17.4% in 2015.
