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 The London-listed company began earning a modest profit from its
COVID-19 vaccine and early data has shown both its antibody
treatment and a booster dose of the vaccine work against the Omicron
variant.
However, the company said sales of COVID-19 products were expected
to decline by a low-to-mid 20s percentage this year, and that the
gross profit margins from those products would be lower than the
company average.
An expected decline in sales of the vaccine is likely to be only
partially offset by growth in sales of the antibody drug, Evusheld,
it said, with the majority of vaccine revenue in 2022 expected to
come from initial contracts.
AstraZeneca expects overall 2022 revenue to increase by a high teens
percentage, with core earnings growing by a mid-to-high 20s
percentage. Sales last year jumped 38% to $37.42 billion at constant
currency rates.
For 2022, analysts currently estimate earnings per share of $6.68
and sales of $42.73 billion, according to Refinitiv IBES data.
Its shares gained around 4% by 0900 GMT, as some investors had
braced for a weaker performance this year.
"There had been significant investor anxiety coming into today's
guidance issuance, and with overall 2022 consensus numbers not
likely to change on the back of the update, we believe the overhang
should be largely lifted," analysts at J.P. Morgan said in a note.
AstraZeneca, which has said low-income nations would continue to
receive its vaccine on a no-profit basis, set up a separate unit to
focus on its coronavirus efforts and other respiratory infections.
VACCINE
The vaccine, with sales of $3.9 billion, was the second best-selling
product for the year for the Anglo-Swedish company, second only to
lung cancer drug Tagrisso, which racked up over $5 billion in
revenues, highlighting the importance of the shot for AstraZeneca in
its first year since launch.
[to top of second column] |
 Rivals Pfizer and Moderna have forecast 2022
sales for their COVID-19 vaccines of about $32
billion and $18.5 billion respectively, while
also expecting other multi-billion-dollar COVID-sales.
AstraZeneca's ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 shot, sold under
the brands Vaxzevria and Covishield with more
than 2.6 billion doses supplied as of February,
is a major weapon against the pandemic but is
yet to get U.S. approval.
The company expects to submit the vaccine for
U.S. regulatory approval in the first half of
the year, much later than the original timetable
for 2021.
AstraZeneca also said it would raise its
annualised dividend by $0.10 to $2.90 per share.
"AstraZeneca continued on its strong growth
trajectory in 2021 with ... five of our
medicines crossing (the) blockbuster threshold,"
Chief Executive Pascal Soriot said, referring to
products that generate more than $1 billion per
year in sales.
Total revenue jumped 63% to $12.01 billion for
the three months to Dec. 31 on a
constant-currency basis, while core earnings per
share (EPS) came in at $1.67 cents, topping
estimates of an EPS of $1.50 on sales of $10.79
billion.
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru,
Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt and Josephine Mason
in London; editing by Jason Neely and Mark
Potter)
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