AstraZeneca Annual Report and Form 20-F Information 2008

Measuring our performance

Each business function is subject to an annual budget and target-setting process that includes developing financial and business forecasts, conducting sensitivity and risk analyses and setting relevant performance measures. Reviews are undertaken in each part of the business in order to monitor and assess progress against business and budget targets, and to access key risks and mitigating actions. Longer-term, 10-year forecasts are developed as part of our annual strategy review.

Quarterly internal reports provide the Board and Senior Executive Team (SET) members with shared insight into current progress against short-term financial and non-financial objectives and current year milestones for longer-term strategic goals.

Performance is assessed using quantitative, comparative market, operational and financial measures and more qualitative analysis. These measures align with the four main priorities of our strategy and together they provide the framework for consistently monitoring and reporting our progress towards achieving our objectives and ultimately delivering enduring shareholder value.

Specific measures that our Board and SET use when assessing business performance, or that are otherwise judged to be helpful in enabling shareholders to better understand and evaluate our business, are described and illustrated throughout this Report. See Strategy, Goals and Performance Measurement to view the key measures in each of our four main priority areas.

In relation to our overall goal of creating enduring value for shareholders by being one of the best-performing pharmaceutical companies, we track shareholder value using the following financial performance metrics: sales growth, operating profit and margins; core and reported earnings per share growth; net operating cash flow (before debt repayment and shareholder distributions); shareholder distributions through dividends and share re-purchases; and total shareholder returns. We report our performance against those measures either in the Financial Highlights, the Financial Review and with Total Shareholder Return Graphs.

Back to the top