Takeda sees quarterly profit drop 39% after last year's one-time gains

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical Co said on Thursday first-quarter profit slumped 39% percent from a year earlier, when earnings had been boosted by the sale of its diabetes drug portfolio.

Operating profit was 150.5 billion yen ($1.11 billion) in the three months through June 30, the drugmaker said, compared with 249 billion yen a year earlier.

The company held its forecast for full-year operating profit at 520 billion yen. That compares with a consensus forecast of 539 billion yen, according to a Refinitiv poll of 15 analysts.

Takeda benefited from a one-time gain of 131.4 billion yen a year ago when it sold off the diabetes assets to refocus on core businesses following its acquisition of Shire Plc.

($1=135.3400 yen)

(Reporting by Rocky Swift; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Clarence Fernandez)