AstraZeneca on track to meet guidance

(Sharecast News) - AstraZeneca said it was on track to meet full-year guidance as the drugs company reported slowing revenue growth in the third quarter.


Total revenue increased 3% to $6.58bn (£5.1bn) in the three months to the end of September at constant currency from a year earlier. On the same basis revenue rose 10% to $19.2bn in the first nine months of the year.

Third-quarter product sales rose 7% at constant currency to $6.52bn compared with an 11% increase for the first nine months. Collaboration revenue fell 78% to $58m in the third quarter company and dropped 18 over nine months.

AstraZeneca said collaboration revenue and other income and expense were weighted towards the fourth quarter. It said the drop in collaboration revenue in the fourth quarter mainly reflected milestone receipts a year earlier for its Lynparza cancer treatment.

Chief Executive Pascal Soriot said: "We made encouraging headway in the quarter, despite the ongoing disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic. We continue to progress in line with our expectations and maintain our full-year guidance, which is underpinned by the strategy of sustainable growth through innovation."

AstraZeneca's shares have risen strongly this year on hopes that it would develop a leading vaccine for Covid-19, making it Britain's most valuable listed company for a short period.

Soriot said: "In the fight against Covid-19, we advanced our vaccine collaboration with the University of Oxford and are launching Phase III trials for our long-acting antibody combination for the prophylaxis and treatment against Covid-19 for people who need an immediate defence or whose weaker immune systems mean they are less likely to benefit from a vaccine."