When shareholders in Astrazeneca gather at the Landmark London Hotel this month, the pharmaceutical company’s board will be hoping for a warmer reception than in previous years.
Its past two annual meetings were overshadowed by large investor executive pay revolts, but this year, with Glass Lewis, a shareholder advisiory group, recommending that investors vote for the pay report and Astrazeneca having returned to sales growth for the first time since 2009, attention is likely to focus on the prospects of the business as it emerges from a pivotal year.
Astrazeneca, formed from a merger in 1999 of Astra, of Sweden, and Zeneca, the British group, is based in Cambridge and employs about 64,000 people in more than 100 countries. The return to product sales growth