Personal care provider Johnson & Johnson could possibly look to sell its diabetes units following mixed fourth quarter results and in an attempt to boost future growth.

The company reported Q4 EPS of $1.58 – $0.02 better than the Wall Street consensus estimate of $1.56 – however, revenue fell short of expectations rising 1.7 percent to $18.11 billion, just short of the predicted $18.26 billion.

As part of the report J&J suggested it would look to ‘potential strategic options’ for its Diabetes Care Companies, in particular LifeScan, Inc., Animas Corporation, and Calibra Medical, Inc. Strategic. These included ‘formation of operating partnerships, joint ventures or strategic alliances, a sale of the businesses, or other alternatives either separately or together.’

The company stated the move was to ensure the best opportunity to cement future growth and maximum shareholder value.

It seems that beauty products was a key driver for the company, which saw an 18 percent rise and helped attribute to a 3.4 percent consumer segment growth – rising to $3.43 billion.

These figures were helped by acquisitions last year included that of hair and personal products maker Vogue International LLC for $3.3 billion.