"In 2017, Roche now expects sales to grow mid-single digit, at constant exchange rates. Core earnings per share are targeted to grow broadly in line with sales, at constant exchange rates. Roche expects to further increase its dividend in Swiss francs," it said on Thursday.

Core earnings per share rose 6 percent to 8.23 Swiss francs, faster than 5 percent sales growth to 26.34 billion. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected core EPS of 7.93 francs on sales of 26.11 billion.

(this story has been corrected to read 2017 outlook in first paragraph instead of 2007.)

(Reporting by Michael Shields, Editing by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi)