- Patent worries persist
- Shareholder discontent at AGM
When AstraZeneca (AZN) announced a dividend hike ahead of a potentially fractious AGM last week, it was bound to be viewed as a sweetener for investors who’ve gone sour on the stock. Although its shares have now recovered after lurching downward in the wake of the group’s February results, they remain around 7 per cent lower than this time last year. In that time, some analysts have raised concerns about the company’s operating margins and exposure to US drug pricing reforms. A moderate decline puts the company ahead of Pfizer (US:PFE), down 37 per cent in the past 12 months, but well behind the outperformance of Novo Nordisk (DN:NOVO.B) and Eli Lilly (US:LLY), up 45 per cent and 101 per cent, respectively.
It is against this backdrop that AstraZeneca recently tabled a remuneration package of nearly £19mn for chief executive Pascal Soriot. Influential shareholder advisers ISS and Glass Lewis lobbied against the “excessive” payout, which was ultimately voted through at the AGM. Sheri McCoy, chair of the board’s remuneration committee, said the previous pay policy did not allow for high enough bonuses, or “sufficient headroom to deploy appropriately leveraged pay for performance compensation”.