(AP) Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis AG reported a fourth-quarter net profit Thursday that was virtually flat due to one-time charges.

The maker of hypertension drug Diovan and epilepsy treatment Trileptal earned $1.352 billion, compared with $1.354 billion in the comparable quarter a year earlier.

Profits took a hit from an impairment charge of $266 million after Novartis decided to stop developing the cholesterol drug NKS104, known as pitavastatin, as it was no longer competitive.

The Basel-based company said its fourth-quarter operating income would have increased 21 percent without this and other one-time charges. Fourth-quarter sales rose 14 percent to $8.66 billion.

"We gained market share and concluded strategic acquisitions to strengthen our leadership position in areas with high growth potential," said Novartis Chairman and Chief Executive Daniel Vasella. "We are confident of delivering in 2006 another year of dynamic growth with record sales and earnings."

Novartis' full-year net profit rose 10 percent to $6.1 billion on sales that increased 14 percent to $32.2 billion.

"The numbers appear to be broadly in line with my estimates, but are a tad below consensus," said Karl Heinz Koch, an analyst in Zurich with private bank Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch.

Novartis said it expects record levels of operating and net income in 2006, with high single-digit net sales growth for the company as a whole. Pharmaceutical sales are expected to grow at slightly less than that, the company said.

"I believe that market growth will slow down somewhat in 2006, but we are still projecting to gain market share," Vasella added.

In midday trading in Zurich, Novartis shares fell 1.9 percent to 71.10 Swiss francs ($55.57).

Novartis said its acquisition and integration of Emeryville, Calif.-based biotech firm Chiron Corp. remained on track to be completed in the first half of 2006. A meeting of Chiron shareholders is expected to vote early this year on Novartis' offer to acquire the remaining 56 percent of the company that it does not already own.

Novartis already has U.S. regulatory approval for the acquisition and expects European approvals soon, it said. The company expects annual synergies of $200 million.

Vasella considers the likelihood of another large takeover to be "very small" and declined to comment on speculation that Novartis is interested in buying smaller Swiss pharmaceuticals firm Serono SA.