Eurofins Scientific : Shares in France's Eurofins rally as it targets more coronavirus products

French laboratories and diagnostics company Eurofins said it hoped to launch more products aimed at detecting the presence of the coronavirus, as it posted an increase in first-half profits, sending its shares to record highs.

Net profits rose 60.9% from a year earlier to 95 million euros (85.92 million pounds).

Revenues increased 7.2% to 2.323 billion euros and Eurofins said it was confident of meeting its 2020 financial targets, which include reaching 5 billion euros of revenues.

Eurofins has launched an array of products to detect the presence of SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for the COVID-19 disease, buoying its overall performance.

Eurofins shares were up by around 10% in early session trading, at all-time highs. The stock has risen by roughly 30% since the start of 2020, giving Eurofins a market capitalisation of around 12 billion euros.

"A strong performance across the board," wrote brokerage Jefferies, keeping a 'buy' rating on Eurofins' shares.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Edmund Blair)

By Sudip Kar-Gupta