By Cecilia Butini 
 

AstraZeneca PLC on Friday posted a net loss for the third quarter despite a jump in revenue, and said it continued to lose money from the development of its coronavirus vaccine.

The Anglo-Swedish pharma giant posted a net loss of $1.65 billion for the third quarter, a swing from net profit of $651 million the year prior. Before taxes, the loss amounted to $2 billion, from a pretax profit of $853 million for the third quarter of 2020.

Revenue, however, rose on year to $9.87 billion from $6.58 billion, growth that the company attributed to an increase in product sales and to the first contributions from the rare-disease business following the acquisition of Alexion Pharmaceuticals.

AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine generated $1.05 billion in revenue in the third quarter, though its development weighed on earnings for the third consecutive quarter, shaving $0.01 off earnings per share for the period, the company said.

The shot is expected to generate a limited profit contribution in the fourth quarter, and the company expects to progressively transition it to modest profitability as new orders come in.

Most of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine sales in the coming quarter will come from original pandemic agreements, though it also expects new orders to come in, it said.

The company backed its guidance for the full year, saying it expects revenue excluding the coronavirus vaccine to grow by a low-twenties percentage. Core earnings per share are seen growing to $5.05-$5.40, according to AstraZeneca.

 

Write to Cecilia Butini at cecilia.butini@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 12, 2021 02:56 ET (07:56 GMT)

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