AstraZeneca made £3bn in sales from its coronavirus jab in 2021, but has warned that revenues from Covid-19 products are set to fall over the year ahead.
The group, which is not making a profit from the vaccine, notched up £1.3bn in sales from the Covid jab in the final three months of last year alone, with 2.5 billion doses released for supply around the world over the year as a whole.
The drugs giant forecast total group sales to rise by a "high teens percentage" in 2022, but warned that Covid-19 revenues would decline by a "a low-to-mid twenties percentage".
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It has set up a new division to focus on its treatments and jabs for Covid-19 and other respiratory infections.
Results showed AstraZeneca swung to a bottom line pre-tax loss of £196m for last year, against profits of £2.9bn in 2020.
This came in spite of revenues jumping by 38% at constant exchange rates to £27.6bn as it was hit by costs of its £28.8bn mega deal to buy US drug company Alexion Pharmaceuticals, as well as new drug research, the PA news agency said.
But the group upped its annual shareholder dividend pay-out to £2.14 a share as chief executive Pascal Soriot cheered a "landmark year in 2021".
He said: "AstraZeneca continued on its strong growth trajectory in 2021, with industry-leading R&D (research and development) productivity, five of our medicines crossing new blockbuster thresholds, and the acquisition and integration of Alexion.
"We also delivered on our promise of broad and equitable access to our Covid-19 vaccine with 2.5 billion doses released for supply around the world, and we made good progress on reducing our greenhouse gas emissions."
AstraZeneca has bases in Cambridge, Merseyside, Cheshire and Bedfordshire.
