Proactive Investors - AstraZeneca PLC (LON:AZN) has raised its guidance for revenue and earnings this year after first-half sales jumped by 18%.
Pascal Soriot, chief executive, said: "Building on our strong growth in the first half of the year and continued underlying demand for our medicines we are upgrading our FY 2024 guidance for both Total Revenue and Core EPS.
Interim revenues rose to US$24.6 billion, said the pharma giant, with US$12.9 billion in the second quarter, driven by 22% rises in oncology, cardiovascular and respiratory and 15% in rare diseases.
Underlying earnings rose by 5% to US$4.03 per share, though stripping out one-off gains in the comparable period the underlying increase was 23%.
Soriot added: "At our Investor Day in May we set out a new revenue ambition to deliver $80 billion of Total Revenue by 2030.
“In the year to date we have continued to make encouraging progress with several disruptive technologies, including antibody drug conjugates, bispecifics, cell and gene therapies, radioconjugates, and weight management medicines, all of which have the potential to drive our growth beyond 2030."
Astra's new guidance is for both revenues and earnings to grow by a mid-teens percentage from low double-digit to low teens previously.
The interim dividend rises by 7c to 100c.