Astellas Pharma Inc.

FY2024 revenue was ¥1.912 trillion, up 19.2% year over year, and core operating profit was ¥392.4 billion, up 41.7% year over year. The company said both exceeded full-year forecast; forex contributed ¥68.1 billion to revenue and ¥15.1 billion to core operating profit. Profit was ¥41 billion, up 68.8% year over year, and profit increased to ¥50.7 billion, up 197.7% year over year. FY2025 revenue is guided to ¥1.930 trillion, with underlying sales of ¥2.036 trillion excluding forex, and core operating profit is guided to ¥410 billion, or 11% underlying growth excluding forex. Strategic Brands are expected to reach ¥470 billion in FY2025, with PADCEV at ¥200 billion, IZERVAY at ¥105 billion, VEOZAH at ¥50 billion, VYLOY at ¥40 billion, XOSPATA at ¥75 billion, and XTANDI at ¥868 billion. Dividend per share is guided to ¥78, up ¥4 year over year.

Naoki Okamura framed FY2024 as a milestone year, saying Astellas achieved record revenue and profit while its Strategic Brands scaled and SMT delivered cost savings. He stressed that the company is moving those brands from investment phase into a full-scale profit contribution phase in FY2025. His tone was confident but disciplined: management wants growth, but also balance-sheet strengthening and flexibility before pursuing any large business development.

Atsushi Kitamura focused on the financial mechanics behind the outlook, including SG&A of ¥805 billion in FY2025, down ¥38 billion year over year, and SG&A excluding co-promotion fees of ¥576 billion, down ¥14.5 billion. He said R&D will rise to ¥342 billion as the company invests in lifecycle management and programs that have achieved PoC, while other expenses are expected to be about ¥110 billion, including more than ¥60 billion of impairment risk. On capital allocation, he said leverage improved from 3.4x at the end of FY2023 to 2.2x at the end of FY2024, and management wants to strengthen the balance sheet so the company can act if a major opportunity appears.

Analysts pressed management on tariff exposure, but Okamura said the forecast includes tariffs only in a rough way and the impact is too uncertain to quantify precisely. IZERVAY was another key topic: management said the CRL temporarily slowed new patient capture and dosing behavior, but new patient share recovered from about 52% to 59%-60% after the label update, and they believe the brand remains the U.S. market leader. Questions on capital allocation and M&A drew a firm response that the policy is unchanged, with growth investment first, then dividends, then buybacks if excess cash remains, while the company is not ready for a very large deal because of current debt levels. Analysts also asked about ASB-3082, and management said PoC in PDAC was supported by strong phase I data in a setting with high unmet need; they are now evaluating next steps and additional cohorts.