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* Says coronavirus outbreak hit could last few months
* Q4 product sales, core EPS fall short of expectations
* Shares down 5%
(Recasts, adds shares, analyst comment, background)
By Pushkala Aripaka and Ludwig Burger
Feb 14 (Reuters) - British drugmaker AstraZeneca
forecast revenue growth for this year of around 10% on Friday,
as it factored in a hit from the coronavirus outbreak in China
and fell short of analysts' expectations for fourth-quarter
results.
Shares of the company, moving into a third year of growth
after changes driven by Chief Executive Officer Pascal Soriot,
sank 5% on Britain's blue-chip index as it warned that
the hit from the outbreak could last "a few months".
China was again a central driver for the company in the
final quarter of 2019, with sales in the country growing 28% to
$1.19 billion, making up 19% of total product sales in the
period.
Sales from the company's top-selling cancer drug Tagrisso,
however, missed estimates as it faced inventory issues in its
biggest market in the United States.
The 2020 forecast was broadly in line with expectations,
although some analysts have said anything less than double-digit
sales growth would be a disappointment this year.
"Management guidance will disappoint (although) we would
flag that AstraZeneca has attempted to quantify the impact of
COVID-19 in its guidance, with other large pharma (e.g. GSK)
excluding this impact," Shore Capital analysts said.
Last week, British rival GSK said it had not faced
much disruption in the short term to its supply chain, but was
monitoring the situation.
AstraZeneca said it expects total revenue to grow by a high
single-digit to a low double-digit percentage in the year,
depending on the impact of the epidemic, and core earnings per
share to rise by a mid- to high-teens percentage.
The company had already warned sales growth from China would
slow down due to changes in government policy and growing
competition.
The coronavirus, which has killed over 1,300 people, has
continued to spread this week, with Chinese health authorities
on Friday reporting more than 5,000 new cases.
Credit Suisse, in a note ahead of the results, said it
expected a sales growth forecast in the high-single-digits
before factoring in any coronavirus impact.
Jefferies analysts said revenue forecast may disappoint,
albeit the outlook assumes up to a few months unfavourable
impact of coronovirus in China.
Quarterly product sales of $6.25 billion missed analysts'
expectation of $6.31 billion, according to a company provided
consensus of 20 analysts.
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka, Ankur Banerjee in Bengaluru and
Ludwig Burger in London; editing by Patrick Graham)
