| CATEGORY: COMPANY NEWS PREVIEW SECTOR: PHARMACEUTICALS & BIOTECHNOLOGY |
Thursday preview: Astra, BSkyB, Unilever |
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Wed 27 Jan 2010
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| AZN - AstraZeneca |
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| Latest Prices |
| Name |
Price |
% |
| AstraZeneca |
3,277.00p |
-0.24% |
| British Sky Broadcasting Group |
710.00p |
-0.28% |
| Unilever |
1,745.00p |
-0.68% |
| |
| FTSE 100 |
5,371 |
+0.09% |
| FTSE 350 |
2,835 |
+0.19% |
| FTSE All-Share |
2,771 |
+0.14% |
| FTSEurofirst 300 |
1,055 |
-0.06% |
| techMARK |
1,672 |
+0.29% |
| Food Producers & Processors |
4,665 |
-0.39% |
| Media |
3,788 |
+0.44% |
| Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology |
9,219 |
+0.04% |
|
LONDON (SHARECAST) - AstraZeneca, one of the top ten UK companies by market value, releases fourth quarter and full year results on Thursday, when it will have to deliver on the increased profit expectations it announced at the end of October.
Astra guided to mid to high single-digit sales growth at constant exchange rate for the full-year, and upgraded core earnings per share to $6.20-6.40 from $5.70-6.00 previously.
It said the outlook for the rest of 2009 has been boosted by the withdrawal of generic products for Toprol-XL, additional orders for the H1N1 influenza vaccine, and the release of a provision within cost of sales that further benefited.
Since then, there have been reports of governments cutting back on H1N1 influenza vaccine. AstraZeneca had $152m of swine flu nasal spray sales in the third quarter and had projected to make a further $300m from the vaccine in the fourth quarter.
On the positive side, the fourth quarter saw the company come to an accommodation with Israel-based rival Teva Pharmaceuticals over the latter’s generic version of Astra’s Nexium ulcer capsules, and made regulatory progress with some of its drugs, including its bipolar disorder treatment Seroquel, which the US Food and Drug Administration approved for use in conjunction with antidepressants to treat major depressive disorder.
Nomura is forecasting fourth quarter earnings per share (EPS) of $1.72, versus a market consensus of $1.51, ‘assisted by an 8% currency tailwind’.
‘We estimate 4Q09E [fourth quarter 2009 estimate] core operating profit at $3,689m, +13.0% vs. consensus at $3,264m (+37.4% y-o-y; [year on year] 4Q08A [fourth quarter 2008 actual] $2,685m) and core operating margin at 39.8% vs. consensus at 36.7% (versus 32.8% for 4Q08A; 3Q09A [third quarter 2008 actual] 44.0%).’
Charles Stanley is going for full year total sales of $32.6bn, up from $31.6bn in 2008. Core pre-tax profit is tipped to rise to $12.5bn from $10.5bn, with core earnings per share (EPS) set to rise to 6.30 cents from 5.10 cents.
Pay TV and Internet service provider British Sky Broadcating weathered the recession better than most, but it has been doing less well in the courts, after its latest appeal over the forced sale of most of its stake in ITV was rejected.
Newspaper reports suggested the company may give up the legal battle, cut its losses and sell the shares soon, in order to end the long running saga and enable investors to focus on the merits of the company again.
Charles Stanley is predicting the company will announce improved revenues of £2.86bn from £2.6bn the year before. EPS are tipped to rise to 14.5p from 13p, with the dividend payment seen rising to 7.9p from 7.5p.
‘We forecast a net 165,000 new pay-TV subscribers, taking the total to 9.7m and on-track for the targeted 10m by the end of 2010. HD [high definition] is expected to have remained the driver of subscriber growth, with a net 285,000 HD subscribers forecast to have been added. Churn is forecast to have been at 10.8%, slightly above the company’s long term target of 10.0%, reflecting the introduction of tighter credit criteria,’ the broker said.
Anglo-Dutch household goods leviathan Unilever issues fourth quarter and full year results. UBS expects full year sales to hit £35.7bn, up 11% from the year before, which would represent organic growth of 3.3%. ‘This implies fourth quarter organic growth of 0.9%,’ UBS said.
‘Assuming a 26% tax charge, and excluding pension financing, this results in adjusted EPS of £1.22. We anticipate a Q4 [fourth quarter] dividend of 18p and YE [year end] net debt of €6.6bn,’ UBS predicted.
Thursday January 28
INTERIMS
British Sky Broadcasting Group, Eaga
QUARTERLIES
Tate & Lyle
FINALS
AstraZeneca
INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Dairy Crest Group, Solid State, United Carpets
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Chicago Fed National Activity (US) (13:30)
Durable Goods Orders (US) (13:30)
Weekly Jobless Claims (13:30)
Unemployment Rate (GER) (08:55)
Business Climate Indicator (EU) (10:00)
Industrial Confidence (EU) (10:00)
Consumer Confidence (EU) (10:00)
Economic Confidence (EU) (10:00)
Service Sector Confidence (EU) (10:00)
PMI Retail (EU) (09:00)
PMI Retail (GER) (08:55)
Jobless Rate (JPN)
Household Spending (JPN)
Consumer Prices Index (JPN)
IMSS
Findel, Hansen Transmissions International
AGMS
Armour Group, Dewhurst, Dewhurst 'A', Intandem Films, ITE Group, Lonmin, Mitchells & Butlers, Wichford
TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS
JJB Sports, Tribal Group
UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
PMI Retail (09:30)
FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Aberdeen Asset Management, Baronsmead AIM VCT
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