Barr Reports First Quarter 2008 GAAP Earnings of $0.21 Per Share; Adjusted Earnings of $0.57...( - Strong European and ...)

- Strong European and Rest of the World Sales

- Proprietary Product Sales Increase, Portfolio Expanded - Company Provides Updated Adjusted Calendar 2008 EPS Guidance of $2.75 -

$3.05

MONTVALE, N.J., May 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Barr Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE: BRL) today reported net earnings of $23 million, or $0.21 per share, on revenues of $608 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2008. The current quarter results compare with prior year net earnings of $12 million, or $0.11 per share, on revenues of $597 million. On a non-GAAP basis, adjusted earnings per share were $0.57 for the first quarter of 2008, as compared to $0.73 for the prior year period. A reconciliation of GAAP-based earnings per share to adjusted earnings per share is presented in the table at the end of this press release.

"While our results for the first quarter did not meet our expectations, we believe that these results will improve in the second half of the year and demonstrate the value of expanding our operations and markets outside the U.S.," said Bruce L. Downey, Barr's Chairman and CEO. "Strong sales growth in Europe and the Rest of the World (ROW) was driven by growth in the key markets of Germany, Russia and Poland. As expected, sales of our U.S. generic contraceptive portfolio decreased but are expected to grow from this level with the anticipated launch of generic Yasmin(R). During the quarter, we expanded our other generic U.S. product portfolio with the launch of generic versions of Fosamax(R) and Kytril(R) and continued to record strong year-over- year sales growth of our Fentanyl Citrate product. Proprietary sales increased year-over-year, driven by our Plan B(R) and SEASON
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