Astellas sees downturn in fiscal 2019/20 profits

Japanese drugmaker Astellas Pharma (TYO: 4503) reported financials for its full fiscal year ended March 31, 2020, showing that revenue was down 0.4% compared to the previous fiscal year, at 1.3 trillion yen ($12.2 billion), with profit tumbling 12.1% at 195.4 billion yen.

On a geographical basis, sales in the USA grew 12.4% to $1 billion, but fell 11.6% to 68.3 billion yen on the Japanese market. International sales advanced 13.8% to 32 billion yen and established market sales grew 14.4% to 650 million yen.

Astellas said that, as "it is difficult to assess properly the impact [of COVID-19] on financial results at this point, the impact has not been incorporated" into its guidance for fiscal 2020. The company expects full-year sales of 1.28 trillion yen for fiscal 2020, down 1.4% from fiscal 2019, with profit of 202 billion yen ($1.9 billion), which is 3.4% higher.