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AstraZeneca PLC on Thursday reported a swing to full-year profit and saw a double-digit revenue rise, despite a weaker fourth quarter. The Cambridge, England-based pharmaceutical firm said total revenue in 2022 rose by 19% to $44.35 billion from $37.42 billion a year before, or by 24% at constant currency. It noted that growth came from all therapy areas, as well as the addition of Alexion Pharmaceuticals, a US acquisition that was added to Astra accounts starting in July 2021. Product sales amounted to $43.00 billion, up from $36.54 million a year earlier. AstraZeneca swung to a pretax profit of $2.50 billion from a loss of $265 million, while core earnings per share jumped 26% to $6.66. Operating profit surged to $31.96 billion from $24.98 billion a year ago. The pharmaceutical maker saw a weaker fourth quarter, however, as revenue fell by 7% to $11.21 billion and core EPS fell by 17% to $1.38. The lower revenue in the quarter was partly due to the decline in Vaxzevria, Astra said. Revenue excluding Vaxzevria rose 17%. Astra announced a second interim dividend of $1.97 per share, taking its full-year dividend per share to $2.90. This is marginally up from $2.87 in 2021. Chief Executive Officer Pascal Soriot said: ‘2022 was a year of continued strong company performance and execution of our long-term growth strategy. We made excellent pipeline progress with a record 34 approvals in major markets and we are initiating new late-stage trials for high potential medicines such as camizestrant, datopotamab deruxtecan and volrustomig. Our research and development success and revenue increase in 2022 demonstrate that we are on track to deliver industry-leading revenue growth through 2025 and beyond, and have set AstraZeneca on a path to deliver at least fifteen new medicines before the end of the decade.’ Looking ahead, Astra expects revenue in 2023 to grow at low-to-mid single-digit percentages at constant currency, or by low double-digit percentages excluding Covid-19 medicines. Core EPS is expected to see high single-digit to low double-digit growth. Shares were up 2.5% at 11,018.00 pence each on Thursday morning in London. Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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