LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) – Brief insights on global finances in the Covid-19 era.
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TUNNEL VISION. AstraZeneca is trying to take the focus off vaccines. Although the $ 130 billion group has created one of the world’s leading Covid-19 jabs, dubious efficiency for those over 55 and snafus in the European supply chain have caused headaches for Pascal Soriot. On Thursday, he highlighted the success of the core business, where new drug sales outweigh older drugs, and projected revenue will rise by a low teen percentage in 2021, excluding vaccination.
From the first quarter, AstraZeneca will remove vaccine sales from its core business, and this reflects the decision to sell the plug-in pipes for the duration of the pandemic. This will reassure investors who have seen the shares rise 11% since September last year, when the company was forced to discontinue a vaccine trial. AstraZeneca still trades 20 times ahead of earnings, far above peers like GlaxoSmithKline. Soriot does not want the vaccine to infect its premium rating. (By Aimee Donnellan)
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