{"id":114424,"date":"2021-02-25T20:45:17","date_gmt":"2021-02-25T20:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?p=114424"},"modified":"2021-02-25T20:45:17","modified_gmt":"2021-02-25T20:45:17","slug":"astrazeneca-and-modernas-contrasting-rewards-for-fighting-covid-hardly-seem-fair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/business\/astrazeneca-and-modernas-contrasting-rewards-for-fighting-covid-hardly-seem-fair\/","title":{"rendered":"AstraZeneca and Moderna\u2019s contrasting rewards for fighting Covid hardly seem fair"},"content":{"rendered":"

C<\/span><\/span>ompare and contrast. AstraZeneca is currently producing Covid vaccines for no profit and still manages to get beaten up by opportunists in Brussels. Over in the US, Moderna is hailed as a national saviour while shouting from the rooftops about how its commercial prospects have been transformed by its own Covid vaccine.<\/p>\n

Moderna\u2019s full-year statement on Thursday was extraordinary. The company expects to generate revenues of $18.4bn (\u00a313.1bn) year from deals it has signed to supply its vaccine, which is priced at $30\u2013$36 a shot, so is definitely intended to produce a chunky profit margin. That revenue forecast is enormous. For comparison, AstraZeneca\u2019s entire established portfolio \u2013 for cancer, cardiovascular, respiratory treatments and more \u2013 generated sales of $26.6bn last year.<\/p>\n

The backstories to the vaccines are very different, of course. Moderna was a loss-making biotechnology firm that has poured billions into developing messenger RNA technology (also used in the BioNtech\/Pfizer product) and a successful return on that investment was never guaranteed. AstraZeneca has merely accelerated original research done at Oxford University \u2013 and a condition of the partnership was \u201cat cost\u201d pricing for all the deals to date.<\/p>\n

There is a consolation for AstraZeneca in that it backed Moderna in its early years and now owns a stake in the company worth roughly $5bn. All the same, the contrasting rewards from combating the pandemic hardly seem fair. AstraZeneca may be able to switch to commercial pricing for higher-income countries eventually, but its only gain so far has been goodwill, although not from all in the EU. In a (still) undersupplied Covid vaccine market in 2021, Moderna can expect to make an absolute mint.<\/p>\n

Centrica\u2019s disgruntled shareholders have one reason to be cheerful<\/h2>\n

\u201cSignificant uncertainties\u201d remain at Centrica, the owner of British Gas, says its chief executive, Chris O\u2019Shea, and he didn\u2019t just mean the industrial dispute over so-called \u201cfire and rehire\u201d contracts. A turnaround \u201cwon\u2019t be easy\u201d and, though he\u2019s confident it will happen, he\u2019s not saying when \u2013 \u201cthe coming years\u201d.<\/p>\n

With vagueness on this scale, you can understand why the shares slid 3%. British Gas lost more customers in 2020, albeit less rapidly than usual, and the timing of the two big disposals \u2013 the Spirit Energy upstream production business and the stake in the nuclear generator British Energy \u2013 are anybody\u2019s guess.<\/p>\n

There is, though, one comfort for Centrica\u2019s long-suffering shareholders. O\u2019Shea is the first chief executive in years who sounds serious about making the business simpler and more competitive with the independents. He still has to make peace with the unions, but his predecessors seemed to think Centrica was some form of protected national energy champion. That illusion has now gone, thankfully.<\/p>\n

Indignation over Serco\u2019s \u2018Covid windfall\u2019 is misplaced<\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

Criticism over the NHS test-and-trace programme confirmed Serco\u2019s place in popular corporate infamy, so the nation probably won\u2019t rise to applaud the first dividend for shareholders since 2014. Fair enough. But one can also feel a smidgeon of sympathy for Rupert Soames, the chief executive, as he tried to deflect the idea that the distribution is some sort of Covid windfall. It\u2019s definitely not that.<\/p>\n

First, Covid has been only slightly better than neutral for Serco. The test-and-trace work brought in revenues of \u00a3350m in 2020, which, at a 4% margin, generated operating profits of \u00a314m. But, on the other side of the ledger, the company says contracts to run leisure centres and suchlike evaporated. The net gain was a mere \u00a32m.<\/p>\n

Second, Serco has repaid its Covid support in the UK. Axing dividends a year ago, amid the initial financial confusion created by the pandemic, was the correct approach, but the exit from support schemes is roughly the moment when dividend life should be allowed to resume.<\/p>\n

In any case, the cash cost of Serco\u2019s dividend is \u00a317m \u2013 hardly a bonanza for a company that was rescued, in effect, by the infusion of \u00a3850m from investors since 2014. Indignation is better directed at the miscreants on business rates: those retailers who kept their relief even as their stores were open and trading strongly.<\/p>\n

Is it nearing game over for GameStop\u2019s investor frenzy?<\/h2>\n

The second incarnation of the GameStop saga is even more baffling than the first. To recap: the share price doubled on Wednesday and kept going in early US trading on Thursday, even though fair value for the video games retailer is a lot lower, according to almost every independent analyst.<\/p>\n

Since the short-selling hedge funds are now off the pitch, the latest larks can\u2019t be explained by a technical short squeeze. Rather, it seems to be a case of buyers piling in just because the share price rose again. Some will have made money, of course. But surely everybody now knows what\u2019s coming next.<\/p>\n

Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Compare and contrast. AstraZeneca is currently producing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":114423,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23051],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nAstraZeneca and Moderna\u2019s contrasting rewards for fighting Covid hardly seem fair - Pre Coin News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/business\/astrazeneca-and-modernas-contrasting-rewards-for-fighting-covid-hardly-seem-fair\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"AstraZeneca and Moderna\u2019s contrasting rewards for fighting Covid hardly seem fair - Pre Coin News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Compare and contrast. AstraZeneca is currently producing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/business\/astrazeneca-and-modernas-contrasting-rewards-for-fighting-covid-hardly-seem-fair\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pre Coin News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-02-25T20:45:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mediabest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/cfntalkfoto4349.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"mediabest\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/business\/astrazeneca-and-modernas-contrasting-rewards-for-fighting-covid-hardly-seem-fair\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/business\/astrazeneca-and-modernas-contrasting-rewards-for-fighting-covid-hardly-seem-fair\/\",\"name\":\"AstraZeneca and Moderna\u2019s contrasting rewards for fighting Covid hardly seem fair - Pre Coin News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-25T20:45:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-02-25T20:45:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ad0e9920e03d3b41c7ad02a18375d76a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/business\/astrazeneca-and-modernas-contrasting-rewards-for-fighting-covid-hardly-seem-fair\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/business\/astrazeneca-and-modernas-contrasting-rewards-for-fighting-covid-hardly-seem-fair\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/business\/astrazeneca-and-modernas-contrasting-rewards-for-fighting-covid-hardly-seem-fair\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Business\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/category\/business\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"AstraZeneca and Moderna\u2019s contrasting rewards for fighting Covid hardly seem fair\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/\",\"name\":\"Pre Coin News\",\"description\":\"precoinnews.com\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ad0e9920e03d3b41c7ad02a18375d76a\",\"name\":\"mediabest\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f5f13cb3b94fc348d515c0951f6ca073?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f5f13cb3b94fc348d515c0951f6ca073?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"mediabest\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"AstraZeneca and Moderna\u2019s contrasting rewards for fighting Covid hardly seem fair - Pre Coin News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/business\/astrazeneca-and-modernas-contrasting-rewards-for-fighting-covid-hardly-seem-fair\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"AstraZeneca and Moderna\u2019s contrasting rewards for fighting Covid hardly seem fair - Pre Coin News","og_description":"Compare and contrast. AstraZeneca is currently producing","og_url":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/business\/astrazeneca-and-modernas-contrasting-rewards-for-fighting-covid-hardly-seem-fair\/","og_site_name":"Pre Coin News","article_published_time":"2021-02-25T20:45:17+00:00","author":"mediabest","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/cfntalkfoto4349.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"mediabest","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/business\/astrazeneca-and-modernas-contrasting-rewards-for-fighting-covid-hardly-seem-fair\/","url":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/business\/astrazeneca-and-modernas-contrasting-rewards-for-fighting-covid-hardly-seem-fair\/","name":"AstraZeneca and Moderna\u2019s contrasting rewards for fighting Covid hardly seem fair - Pre Coin News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-02-25T20:45:17+00:00","dateModified":"2021-02-25T20:45:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ad0e9920e03d3b41c7ad02a18375d76a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/business\/astrazeneca-and-modernas-contrasting-rewards-for-fighting-covid-hardly-seem-fair\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/business\/astrazeneca-and-modernas-contrasting-rewards-for-fighting-covid-hardly-seem-fair\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/business\/astrazeneca-and-modernas-contrasting-rewards-for-fighting-covid-hardly-seem-fair\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Business","item":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/category\/business\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"AstraZeneca and Moderna\u2019s contrasting rewards for fighting Covid hardly seem fair"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/","name":"Pre Coin News","description":"precoinnews.com","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ad0e9920e03d3b41c7ad02a18375d76a","name":"mediabest","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f5f13cb3b94fc348d515c0951f6ca073?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f5f13cb3b94fc348d515c0951f6ca073?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"mediabest"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114424"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}