Annual sales, profits jump at AstraZeneca

(Sharecast News) - AstraZeneca posted a spike in full-year revenues and earnings on Tuesday, boosted by strong demand for its cancer drugs, and forecast further growth in the current year. The blue chip heavyweight saw total revenues in the year to December end rise 9%, or by 8% on a constant currency basis, to $58.7bn. Core earnings per share were 11% stronger in constant currencies at $9.16. Both figures were largely in line with expectations.

AstraZeneca, which earlier this month started trading on the New York Stock Exchange alongside its London and Stockholm listings, said it had seen growth across divisions, including rare disease and cardiovascular, renal and metabolism.

However, the biggest growth was seen in the pharma's dominant oncology division, where revenues jumped 17% to $25.6bn.

Pascal Soriot, chief executive, said: "We saw strong commercial performance across our therapy areas and excellent pipeline delivery.

"The momentum across our company is continuing in 2026, and we are looking forward to the results of more than 20 phase 3 trial readouts this year."

The firm is currently predicting total revenues to increase by a mid-to-high single digit percentage in 2026, and core EPS by a low double-digit percentage.

The company is currently focused on boosting its presence in both the US and China, with multi-billion investments announced last year for both countries.