Jilted Shire raises guidance again after earnings jump

* Q3 earnings jump 60 pct, raises full-year forecast again

* Says results show firm was not derailed by aborted AbbVie deal

* Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) up 3.2 pct (Adds CEO comments, analyst reaction, updates shares)

By Paul Sandle

LONDON, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Pharmaceutical firm Shire raised its guidance for full-year earnings on Friday, lauding its strong prospects as a standalone company after AbbVie Inc (Xetra: 4AB.DE - news) this week officially ditched its $55 billion bid for the group.

Shire (Xetra: S7E.DE - news) 's shares, which had fallen back to the levels they were trading at before AbbVie's interest, were up 3.2 percent to 4,020 pence by 1229 GMT, making them the biggest gainer on the FTSE 100 Index.

The Dublin-based group, which produces drugs to treat hyperactivity and rare diseases, posted a 60 percent rise in third-quarter earnings per American depository share to $2.93 on revenue up nearly a third at $1.6 billion.

"Our performance this quarter demonstrates that Shire is resilient and we have not lost our focus," said Chief Executive Flemming Ornskov.

Shire had exciting prospects as an independent business focused on rare diseases and specialty indications, he said.

"We have a renewed sense of urgency to deliver superior value to shareholders and improved outcomes to our patients," he added.

Strong product sales growth in the quarter, led by a 66 percent jump in its rare disease unit, aided by its acquisition of ViroPharma a year ago, led to a rise in earnings guidance for the third consecutive quarter.

Shire now expects to deliver earnings growth in the high 30 percent range for the full year, up from its expectations in July of growth in the low-to-mid 30 percent range.

Analysts at Jefferies had been looking for full-year earnings growth of 32 percent.

"Importantly there are no obvious signs of disruption from the now terminated AbbVie deal," they said. "Longer term, the compelling growth trajectory at an attractive premium drives our "buy"."

DEAL SEARCH UNABATED

AbbVie walked away from the 5,248 pence a share deal after the U.S. Treasury department tightened its rules to curtail companies doing deals that would allow them to redomicile overseas to cut corporate tax rates.

In its initial defence against a takeover, Shire had said it planned to double sales to $10 billion by 2020, $7 billion of which would come from its existing products and $3 billion from its pipeline.

Ornskov said on Friday the target was absolutely achievable.

Growth in Shire's own drugs, which included ADHD blockbuster Vyvanse, would be supplemented by acquisitions, he said, with targets in specialty indications that typically affected small numbers of patients with unmet needs.

Shire had $9 billion of firepower to make acquisitions, analysts at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch said in June.

That sum will be boosted by a break fee of $1.635 billion payable by AbbVie to Shire.

Possible acquisitions include NPS Pharmaceuticals (NasdaqGS: NPSP - news) , Salix Pharmaceuticals (NasdaqGS: SLXP - news) and Cubist Pharmaceuticals (NasdaqGS: CBST - news) , according to reports.

Shire itself could again be a target for Botox maker Allergan Inc (NYSE: AGN - news) .

Ornskov declined to comment on individual targets or on the timing of acquisitions, but he said Shire's deals team had continued working throughout the aborted AbbVie takeover.

"Both on the results side and in business development the team continued uninterrupted," he said.

Ornskov said he was committed to leading an independent Shire. "The best opportunity I have is to lead Shire, and I'm very pleased I have that opportunity again," he said. (Editing by Kate Holton and Elaine Hardcastle)