AstraZeneca’s value rises above £200bn
The market capitalisation of AstraZeneca has crossed the £200 billion threshold for the first time, in a watershed moment for the most valuable company listed in London.
Shares in the Cambridge-based pharmaceuticals group, headed by Sir Pascal Soriot, have been within touching distance of the milestone in recent months after an investor event in May, when it set a target to almost double revenues to $80 billion by 2030 as part of a “new era of growth”.
The stock closed up 1.1 per cent, or 140p, at £129.20 last night, valuing the company at just under £200.3 billion.
The shares in the Anglo-Swedish company, created through the merger of Zeneca, of Britain, with Astra, of Sweden, 25 years ago, have surged by 78 per cent over the past five years, propelled by the launch of blockbuster medicines, particularly in oncology. That helped AstraZeneca to hit ambitious sales targets set in 2014, when it rebuffed a £69 billion takeover approach from Pfizer, an American rival.
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AstraZeneca has since overtaken Pfizer, which is valued at about $163 billion in New York, and on the London market is worth more than Shell, valued at about £175 billion, and HSBC, at £119 billion. Analysts at AJ Bell, the broker, believe Shell was the first to pass the £200 billion valuation mark in 2018, based on Datastream figures.
