AstraZeneca’s numbers are good, but trouble in China could drag it down | Nils Pratley

Profits beat forecasts, but a 17% fall in share price since executives were detained by Beijing may be hard to shake

In the world of two weeks ago, AstraZeneca's share price would have probably enjoyed a strong day on the release of Tuesday's third-quarter numbers. The profit figure beat forecasts and the UK pharmaceutical company raised its guidance for growth in full-year revenues and earnings from mid-teens" to high teens".

Meanwhile, Pascal Soriot, the chief executive, unveiled a $3.5bn (2.7bn) investment programme in the US and talked bullishly about prospects in AstraZeneca's biggest market. It all sounded like another confident step in the march to take global revenues from $46bn in 2023 to $80bn by 2030.