AZN AstraZeneca PLC

   By Cecilia Butini 
 

AstraZeneca PLC said Thursday that it swung to a fourth-quarter loss despite posting higher revenue as charges related to its acquisition of Alexion Pharmaceuticals weighed on earnings, and said it expects to incur in a $2.1 billion post-acquisition restructuring charge.

The Anglo-Swedish pharma giant posted a net loss of $347 million for the last quarter of the year compared with a net profit of $1.01 billion the year prior. However, revenue rose to $12.01 billion from $7.41 billion as sales grew in most therapeutic areas.

Losses per share for the quarter were $0.22 compared with earnings per share of $0.78 the year prior.

The company posted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $1.90 billion in the quarter, down from $2.28 billion as the Alexion acquisition negatively affected the metric with an unwind of inventory fair value uplift and restructuring charges.

Sales of the company's Covid-19 vaccine contributed $1.87 billion to revenue in the quarter, but it said that it expects sales of the shot to decline in 2022. Overall, total revenue from Covid-19 medicines is expected to decline by a low-to-mid 20s percentage in 2022, though the expected decline in vaccine sales should be offset by growth in sales of monoclonal-antibody combination Evusheld, AstraZeneca said. Gross profit margin from Covid-19 medicines is expected to be lower than company average. It added that the majority of vaccine revenue in 2022 is expected to come from initial contracts.

The company said in its third-quarter statement in November that it would start selling its Covid-19 jab at cost after pledging to make no profit from it.

AstraZeneca said it has initiated a "comprehensive review" in conjunction with the acquisition of Alexion, which it is aimed at integrating systems, structure and processes, and which it expects to complete by the end of 2025. The review is expected to produce $2.1 billion restructuring costs.

Revenue is seen increasing by a high-teens percentage in 2022, while core earnings per share are expected to rise in the mid-to-high 20s percentage, AstraZeneca said, adding that the growth rates include the full-year contribution of its Covid-19 vaccine, Vaxzeviria, in both 2021 and 2022.

Research-and-development costs and other operating expenses increased both during the fourth quarter and overall in 2021, as the company continued to invest in its coronavirus vaccine and in its Evusheld Covid-19 treatment. Other expenses included increased amortization of intangible assets related to the Alexion acquisition and heightened investment in oncology launches.

Write to Cecilia Butini at cecilia.butini@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 10, 2022 04:21 ET (09:21 GMT)

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