SHARE OF THE WEEK

WHETHER W it is because of the firm’s fir breakthrough Covid-19 jab ja or its row with the EU, AstraZeneca As has seemingly been be in the headlines constantly st during the pandemic.

In I the long run that looks to have ha done little for the British drugs dr giant’s share price, however, ev which is now trading 6pc lower lo than a year ago.

Astra A is due to report its fullyear ye results on Thursday and investors in will be keenly watching in for updates on a number of fronts. fr It has agreed to supply its Covid vaccine, developed with Oxford University, at cost un until the pandemic is over – so th there will be questions about ho how that is defined and when it will start making a profit.

C Chief executive Pascal Soriot, w who was accused of giving ‘v ‘vague’ answers by Brussels la last week, is also certain to be as asked about how efforts to ta tackle production problems in BeE Belgium are going.

Elsewhere, there are still misgivings about the company’s ny proposed £28bn takeover of US biotech firm Alexion, a ca cancer specialist that Soriot ho hopes will strengthen AZ’s fo footing in the potentially lu lucrative field of immunology.

H He has defended the deal but some analysts have suggested Astra overpaid and that now is not the time to be launching swashbuckling takeovers.

Closely-watched will be product sales, which have finally returned to growth thanks to blockbuster drugs in recent years, but may have been hit by hospital chaos during the pandemic and patients visiting doctors less often.

Astra is expected to report fourth quarter sales of £5.2bn, up from £4.9bn the previous year, and a rise in profit from £175m to £867m.