Thursday 28 July 2016 8:33 am

Cholesterol damage: AstraZeneca’s revenue hurt by new US market competition

Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca today reported a fall in revenue driven by increased competition in the US cholesterol-fighting market.

But, despite the fall, which was in-line with expectations, its share price jumped seven per cent to 5,021p.

The figures

Total revenue in the three months to 30 June was $5.6bn (£4.2bn), down 11 per cent on the same period last year.

Its reported operating profit, meanwhile, was $303m, down 67 per cent year on year.

And its reported earnings per share were down 31 per cent to $0.83.

The firm also today announced an unchanged interim dividend of $0.90 per share.

AstraZeneca’s share price went up around one per cent to 4,742p after it reported the first-quarter results on Thursday morning.

[stockChart code="AZN" date="2016-07-28 16:24"]

Why it’s interesting

The pharma giant said its product sales decline – five per cent to $5.5bn – was driven by the US market entry of generic competition for its cholesterol fighter Crestol.

AstraZeneca reported results broadly in line with analyst expectations.

Thomson Reuters had expected a quarterly revenue of $5.6bn and earnings per share of $0.84.

Shorecap analysts Tara Raveendran and Adam Barker said in a note on Thursday morning: “A reassuring set of results from AstraZeneca, but we continue to see the financials as secondary to the primary focus, which is pipeline progress as Astra works through its earnings trough.”

What the company said

Chief executive Pascal Soriot:

Our performance in the first half was in line with expectations, reflecting the anticipated near-term patent expiry challenges and the phasing of externalisation revenue in 2016. Our growth platforms continued to advance and made up over 60% of total revenue. Importantly, our transformed pipeline is advancing quickly and delivering a rich flow of differentiated medicines, boding well for our return to growth.