AstraZeneca PLC Q3 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: James Gordon - JPMorgan - Analyst : James Gordon, JPMorgan. First question was US election implications and where you're investing. So do you see any impact from the US presidential election on Astra's business in terms of higher tariffs or maybe lower corporate tax or anything else? And I saw the USD3.5 billion investment in manufacturing research. Is there any connection there? Are you going to shift more of your investment into the US? Is that even more of a focus now? I assume, for instance, the UK election doesn't make much difference, and that's going to be potentially an area of less investment? And the second question was confidence in the 2025 outlook. So if I look the 2025 consensus of the new updated 2024 implied EPS level is looking for low double-digit EPS growth. So how comfortable are you with that growth outlook? I can hear comments on top-line strength and leverage over SG&A, but also we've had a pull forward of the Lynparza milestone. There's questions on China, IRA, financial expense, and maybe the election depending on what you said on the first question. So should we be a bit more cautious than that in 2025? Or is that achievable maybe?