The drugs giant forecast total group sales to rise in 2022, but said Covid-19 revenues would fall over the year ahead.
10 February 2022
Covid-19 vaccine maker AstraZeneca has revealed it made four billion dollars (£3 billion) in sales from its coronavirus jab last year, but said revenues from coronavirus products are set to fall over the year ahead.
The group, which is not making a profit from the vaccine, notched up 1.76 billion dollars (£1.3 billion) in sales from the Covid jab in the final three months of last year alone, with 2.5 billion doses released for supply around the world over the year as a whole.
The drugs giant forecast total group sales to rise by a “high teens percentage” in 2022, but warned that Covid-19 revenues would decline by a “a low-to-mid twenties percentage”.
It has set up a new division to focus on its treatments and jabs for Covid-19 and other respiratory infections.
Results showed AstraZeneca swung to a bottom line pre-tax loss of 265 million dollars (£196 million) for last year, against profits of 3.92 billion dollars (£2.9 billion) in 2020.
This came in spite of revenues jumping by 38% at constant exchange rates to 37.4 billion dollars (£27.6 billion) as it was hit by costs of its 39 billion dollar (£28.8 billion) mega deal to buy US drug company Alexion Pharmaceuticals, as well as new drug research.
But the group upped its annual shareholder dividend payout to 2.90 US dollars (£2.14) a share as chief executive Pascal Soriot cheered a “landmark year in 2021”.
He said: “AstraZeneca continued on its strong growth trajectory in 2021, with industry-leading R&D (research and development) productivity, five of our medicines crossing new blockbuster thresholds, and the acquisition and integration of Alexion.
“We also delivered on our promise of broad and equitable access to our Covid-19 vaccine with 2.5 billion doses released for supply around the world, and we made good progress on reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.”
