AstraZeneca double its share buybacks, strong results
July 29, 2010
AstraZeneca announced the doubling of its program of share buybacks in 2010, encouraged by the publication of strong results and after the green light given by an expert panel of the U.S. Food Brilinta its anticoagulant, a blockbuster potential.
The title earned more than 4% on the London Stock Exchange in early trading, the best performance of the pan-European Stoxx sector, which would then take 0.9%.
The announcement of the recommendation by the members of a committee of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has partly overshadowed the release of better-than-expected second quarter, an increase of 9% in earnings per share (EPS) .
The Brilinta, whose annual sales could exceed one billion dollars, is one of the keys to future growth of the group, facing the threat of declining sales of older drugs because of the expiry of certain patents.
The gross operating income of the group, which excludes certain restructuring costs and certain charges, rose 5% in the second quarter to 3.53 billion dollars (2.70 billion euros), or $ 1.79 per share for a turnover up 3% to 8.18 billion.
The Thomson Reuters consensus forecast of I / B / E / S projected a $ 1.53 EPS and revenues of 8.1 billion dollars.
Based on these results, the group has raised its forecast of 30 cents of EPS for all of 2010, against 6.32 dollars to 6.65 dollars in 2009.
The second half of the year could be more difficult for the group because of growing competition from generics. But confirmation by the U.S. court last month's patent for its cholesterol-lowering Crestor has obviously given him the confidence to strengthen its program of share repurchases.
The group plans to spend two billion dollars this year, against one billion originally planned.
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