* Q3 core EPS rises 27 percent, sales up 9 percent
* Full-year outlook increased
* Share buyback on hold to allow for investment
* Shares extend gains, up 6.3 percent
(Adds comments from CFO and analyst, updates share price)
By Ben Hirschler
LONDON, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Drugmaker AstraZeneca, helped by currency effects
and cost savings, raised its full-year earnings forecasts on Thursday as
third-quarter forecasts beat expectations.
Shares in the company were 6.3 percent higher at 25.76 pounds by 1215 GMT.
The results follow solid figures earlier this month from European rivals
GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis and Roche as sales of medicines hold up relatively
well in a worsening economic environment.
In a move similar to Glaxo, AstraZeneca said it was suspending share
repurchases for the rest of 2008 to take advantage of investment opportunities.
Many cash-rich drug firms see the credit crisis as a chance to buy up assets
cheaply.
Chief Financial Officer Simon Lowth told reporters the Anglo-Swedish group
would actively pursue opportunities to buy promising compounds to bulk up its
new drug pipeline via product licensing deals and acquisitions.
Cholesterol fighter Crestor and asthma drug Symbicort showed strong growth
in the quarter, offsetting a fall in sales of ulcer and heartburn treatment
Nexium, which faces fierce competition from cheaper rivals.
The fall in Nexium sales, however, was slightly less than some analysts had
feared.
Sales of schizophrenia drug Seroquel showed only modest growth, as expected,
reflecting a tough year-ago comparison.
For the full year, AstraZeneca now expects core earnings per share of
between $4.90 and $5.05, against $4.60-4.90 anticipated previously, helped by
dollar and sterling weakness in the third quarter, as well as operational
improvements.
CURRENCY SWINGS
Some of those currency advantages may start to unravel in future quarters,
following more recent currency swings, but most analyst numbers were already
above the previous guidance.
"The fourth quarter is not going to be as strong; they're not going to get
as much currency benefits," said WestLB analyst Simon Mather. "So I think this
guidance is what they will achieve."
Morgan Stanley analysts said 2008 consensus estimates were likely to rise by
2 to 6 percent and predicted the company would at least meet, or beat, forecasts
for the next five quarters.
Reported pretax profit in the quarter rose 29 percent to $2.44 billion on
sales up 9 percent at $7.78 billion, equivalent to core EPS of $1.32 versus
analyst expectations of $1.17.
"Core" earnings exclude restructuring costs and charges.
Sales in emerging markets were up strongly in the three months to Sept. 30
at $1.1 billion -- the second successive quarter in which revenues in have
breached $1 billion.
AstraZeneca shares have performed strongly since March, outpacing the
European sector by around 30 percent, as the company has successfully seen off
the immediate threat of generic competition to Nexium and Seroquel.
Investors are also hopeful that new clinical trial data on Crestor, due to
be presented at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association next month,
will help differentiate the medicine in a crowded cholesterol market.
But the shares still trade on a lowly 8.25 times forecast 2009 earnings --
below British rival GlaxoSmithKline on nearly 11 times -- reflecting investor
concern about the company's relatively thin late-stage drug pipeline.
(Editing by Jason Neely)
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