Sanofi pleases the shareholders and decides to increase the dividend after the capital gain from the sale of the Regeneron stake. A choice that investors like: on the Paris Stock Exchange, the stock gains more than 2% today, rising to 80,48 euros per share.
The French pharmaceutical giant has released its fourth quarter 2020 accounts, filed with sales growth of 4,2% and a profit up 9,8%.
Broadening the horizon to the whole year, le sales up 3,3% to 36,041 billion euros, driven by the boom in Dupixent (a medicine used to treat patients with atopic dermatitis) and vaccines.
A few weeks ago the company ended up at the center of controversy due to the delay in the development of its anti-Covid vaccine, which will have to repeat phase 2 of the trial, but also announced that, starting in July, it will produce over 100 million doses of Pfizer-Biontech vaccine. In this context, the net profit of the laboratory it reached 12,3 billion against 2,8 billion a year earlier, marking an increase of almost 340%.
The large capital gain – exceeding 7 billion – generated by the company contributed to the soaring profit divestment of its shares in partner Renegeron, an American biotech that develops synthetic antibodies used against Covid and from which former American president Donald Trump also benefited.
Thanks to the accumulated nest egg, the board of directors decided to propose to the assembly an increase in the dividend to 3,2 euros per share, for a total of 4 billion euros which will be paid to shareholders.
Going on with the accounts, the net operating profit, which excludes some exceptional items, shows an increase of 4,2% (+9,6% at constant exchange rates) to 7,35 billion euros, while net earnings per share reached 5,86 euros, up by 9,2% at constant exchange rates (+3,9 in current currencies), higher than expected.
As for the current year, for 2021 Sanofi expects solid growth: Corporate EPS will increase in single digits, barring unforeseen major adverse events. Applying January 2021 average exchange rates, the currency impact on 2021 corporate EPS is estimated to be between -4,5% and -5,5%.
“The execution of the strategic plan announced in December 2019 is well underway with the main growth drivers in place,” Sanofi said. The pharmaceutical group organizes the Capital Markets Day to provide a comprehensive update on strategies. “Since we announced our new strategic framework in December 2019, we have relentlessly advanced our efforts to accelerate R&D efforts, building one of the industry's most diverse pipelines in Specialty Care, and our work in immunology has the potential to transform patient care in this therapeutic area,” he said Paul Hudson, CEO of Sanofi. “We are anticipating our plans for growth, efficiency and cutting-edge science in our pipeline. The reshaping of our General Medicines and Consumer Healthcare business units will enable both to make even more significant contributions to Sanofi's growth and profitability.” Financially, Sanofi confirms its goal to expand the company's operating income margin (BOI) to 30% by 2022, with ambition for its BOI margin to exceed 32% by 2025. The company is following its 2022 target as planned, with BOI Margin up 120 basis points in 2020.
