Switzerland's Galderma posts 12.4% jump in first-quarter sales

ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss skin care company Galderma posted first-quarter net sales of $1.071 billion on Wednesday, up 12.4% year on year, and confirmed it expected turnover growth of 7-10% this year.

Galderma's first update on operations since it began trading on the Swiss stock exchange last month sent its shares more than 3% higher before they pared gains.

CEO Flemming Ornskov said growth had been "broad-based" across regions and portfolios, but that it was too early to change guidance for 2024 despite the robust first quarter.

"It's the beginning of the year, but I think everything points to a strong year," Ornskov told Reuters.

The CEO underlined that the company had seen "very strong growth" in the Asia Pacific region, "not least" in China.

"Rapidly China is moving up the ranks as an important country for us," Ornskov said.

He said he had "no insights" about when shareholders would move to put more of the company's stock onto the market.

(Reporting by Andrey Sychev and Dave Graham; editing by Jason Neely)