AstraZeneca shedding 6000 jobs
Pharmaceuticals giant AstraZeneca is axeing 6000 jobs worldwide after the company today forecast no sales growth in 2009.
The firm, the UK's second-largest pharmaceuticals company, after GlaxoSmithKline, saw its fourth-quarter pre-tax profits fall by 10% at constant exchange rates to $1.82 billion, although sales rose 4%.
But in a sign of the sector's success despite the market turmoil, AstraZeneca increased its dividend by 10% to $2.05.
The Anglo-Swedish company was one of the best-performing stocks last year, rising 29.7% by the Footsie's close in 2008, partly due to serious cost-cutting. The 6000 job losses outlined today mean that the pharma giant has cut 15,000 roles since 2007.
David Brennan, chief executive at AstraZeneca, said: "We are making good headway in improving the efficiency of our organisation.
"The expansion of our restructuring efforts is another important step towards sustaining our long-term competitiveness."
As one of the sector's most exposed pharma firms to generic copies, AstraZeneca is precariously placed for the future. Forty per cent of its sales come out of patent by 2012.
"The lack of sales growth forecast for 2009 is likely to spook the market," said Manoj Ladwa at ETX Capital. Shares in AstraZeneca today dropped 126p to 2734p.
