Anglo-Swedish AstraZeneca closes 2008 with a net profit of 10.5 billion dollars, up 4% over 2007 at constant exchange rates. Earnings per share increased to $5.10 (+8%), operating profit to $10.9 billion (+9%) and sales to $31.6 billion (+3%). However, communicates the company that presented the financial results for the year just ended, "new initiatives have broadened the scope of the restructuring program with the aim of supporting long-term competitiveness.
This program provides for a further 6,000 redundancies by 2013, in addition to the 9,000 already announced to date". Therefore, benefits of 2.5 billion dollars are expected when fully operational, against 1.4 billion. Sales in emerging markets are close to 4.3 billion
dollars (+16% at constant exchange rates). In particular, the group reports the performance of the anti-cholesterol rosuvastatin, with global sales growing by 26% to 3.6 billion. The pipeline continues to make progress – underlines AstraZeneca – and for 2009 the presentation of registration dossiers is scheduled for up to 4 new compounds. Finally, net debt decreased by $1.9 billion, thanks to good cash flows and rigorous investment management. "AstraZeneca achieved a robust performance despite the increasingly demanding challenges posed by the market - comments the CEO David Brennan - I am particularly satisfied with the positive results that we continue to achieve in the globalization of the business, as indicated by the solid performance in emerging markets. Good progress are also recorded in the further improvement of the efficiency of the organization – adds the manager – The expansion of the scope of the restructuring program represents another important step forward in initiatives to support long-term competitiveness,” he points out. For 2009, the company expects sales in line with 2008, and expects earnings per share of between $5.15 and $5.45.
Source: http://news.merqurio.net/Articolo.aspx?id=2053
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