AstraZeneca Lifts 2021 Guidance After Alexion Acquisition; Posts Lower 2Q Profit -- Update
July 29 2021 - 4:20AM
Dow Jones News
By Cecilia Butini
AstraZeneca PLC said Thursday that it has raised its core
earnings-per-share guidance for 2021 following the completion of
its acquisition of Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc., though profit for
the second quarter declined on year.
Net profit for the quarter was $550 million, down from $756
million a year prior, on sales that grew to $8.22 billion from
$6.28 billion, including revenue generated from the company's
Covid-19 vaccine.
Core earnings per share were $0.90 in the quarter, down from
$0.96 in the same quarter a year prior, as the metric continued to
suffer from the impact of the company's Covid-19 vaccine, which
AstraZeneca is developing at no profit.
The company said its earnings per share took a hit of $0.01 in
the second quarter as a result of the impact of the Covid-19
vaccine, and a $0.04 hit in the first half. The vaccine had a
negative impact of $0.03 on EPS during the first quarter.
AstraZeneca raised its guidance for core EPS growth in 2021
following the recently completed acquisition of Alexion
Pharmaceuticals and the issuance of new shares. It said it expects
total revenue to increase by a percentage in the low 20s and core
EPS to be in the range of $5.05 to $5.40. It had previously guided
for the metric to be in a range of $4.75 and $5.
"The guidance does not incorporate any revenue or profit impact
from sales of the pandemic Covid-19 vaccine," AstraZeneca said,
adding that it recognizes uncertainties related to the effects of
the pandemic, including the impact from potential new medicines for
Covid-19 in clinical development.
AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine generated revenue of $894 million
in the quarter and $1.17 billion in the first half, which reflected
the delivery of about 319 million doses world-wide, the company
said.
Write to Cecilia Butini at cecilia.butini@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 29, 2021 04:14 ET (08:14 GMT)
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