|
AstraZeneca 1Q rises 15%
|
 |
May 3, 2000: 9:09 a.m. ET
Anglo-Swedish drug firm recovers from weak 4Q as patent expiry looms
|
LONDON (CNNfn) - Anglo-Swedish drug maker AstraZeneca posted a sharp rise in first-quarter earnings Wednesday, rebounding from a weak close to 1999.
The company reported a 15 percent rise in first-quarter pretax profit to $1.12 billion from $971 million a year earlier, compared with a consensus forecast of $1.07 billion among analysts polled by Reuters. Revenue climbed 10 percent to $4.6 billion.
AstraZeneca (AZN) shares were only marginally higher at 2,689 pence in London on a broadly weak day for European drug stocks.
The company's report in February that fourth-quarter 1999 earnings fell 3 percent had prompted a 10 percent slide in the company's share price at the time. Investor nervousness also reflected concern about the outlook for new products that could offset an expected fall in revenue from the anti-ulcer treatment Losec, the world's best-selling prescription drug. AstraZeneca's patents on the drug start to expire later this year.
 Losec sales rose 12 percent in the first quarter to $1.59 billion, AstraZeneca said it planned to start selling Nexium, a new version of Losec, in August.
It also claimed to have a strong enough pipeline to compensate for any drop in Losec sales.
The firm's healthcare business reported a rise in its operating margin to 25.5 percent, as the unit's operating profit rose 14 percent. In the agrochemicals business, operating earnings increased 30 percent.
AstraZeneca said it was on track to complete the proposed merger of its agrochemicals unit with that of Swiss-based Novartis, to create Syngenta, by the second half of the year. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
AstraZeneca
Novartis
|
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
External sites are not endorsed by CNNmoney
|
|
|
|
 |
|
