Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has reported a net profit of $2.88 billion for the third quarter of this year, an increase of 26% on the same period last year. The profit figure was helped by cost-saving measures and came despite a 3% fall in revenues to $11.6 billion.
Pfizer said currency movements knocked $610m off the value of its sales, as almost 60% of its revenue comes from outside the US.
Last week, Pfizer became Ireland's biggest foreign direct investment employer, with more than 5,000 employees, after it completed a $68 billion takeover of another pharmaceuticals giant, Wyeth.
Pfizer's Q3 profit amounted to to 51 cents a share, topping Wall Street consensus estimates of 48 cents. There were lower sales of some key drugs - including cholesterol treatment Lipitor and erectile dysfunction drug Viagra - which face increasing competition.
But the profit figure's comparison with last year was helped because of a charge a year ago of $640m for litigation.
