Schering earnings per share to fall 3%-6%

SCHERING, the world’s biggest maker of birth-control pills, said full-year earnings per share will fall 3% to 6% after reporting a profit in the third quarter as more people used its Betaseron multiple sclerosis treatment and Yasmin birth-control pill.

Third-quarter net income was €97 million, or 50c a share, compared with a loss of €73 million, or 37c, a year ago when the company had acquisition costs, Berlin-based Schering said in documents released before a press conference. Sales were unchanged at €1.2 billion.

The company “probably” won’t match last year’s fourth-quarter profit, chief executive officer Hubertus Erlen said in the text of a speech to be delivered at a press conference.