Moody's lowers AstraZeneca

Moody's Investors Service said it downgraded the long-term senior unsecured ratings of AstraZeneca plc and its guaranteed subsidiaries to A2 from A1.

Moody's also said it affirmed the group's short-term rating at prime-1.

The outlook is stable.

The downgrades are due to the ongoing pressure on the group's sales and earnings related to patent expiries of large-selling drugs and an expectation that any improvement in its currently modest pipeline will take time to materialize, Moody's said.

The downgrades also reflect that AstraZeneca will continue to be exposed to expiries on some of its largest-selling drugs in the coming years, the agency said.

But, AstraZeneca has maintained a very solid financial profile over the recent past, albeit this has weakened somewhat since 2011, Moody's said.

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