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* Quarterly results top expectations, dividend raised
* Shares among top FTSE 100 gainers
* Overall 2022 revenue to rise, but COVID-sales will fall
* Vaccine sales drop to be offset by antibody drug
(Adds shares, analyst comment, paragraphs 7,8)
By Pushkala Aripaka and Ludwig Burger
Feb 10 (Reuters) - AstraZeneca forecast higher 2022
sales and raised its annual dividend for the first time in a
decade on Thursday after beating fourth-quarter profit
expectations, but warned the boost from its COVID-19 products
would fall.
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.
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)
