GSK Lifts Guidance After Turnover Beats Expectations — Update

By Helena Smolak

GSK lifted its full-year guidance after first-quarter turnover rose and beat expectations, helped by higher sales in its vaccines and specialty medicines segment.

The British pharmaceutical giant said Wednesday that it now expects turnover growth this year toward the higher end of its previously guided 5% to 7% range. It now expects core operating profit growth of 9% to 11% compared with previous expectations of 7% to 10%, and anticipates core earnings per share growth of 8% to 10% compared with the previously guided 6%-9%.

GSK expects sales growth in the first half of the year to be higher than in the second half based on demand for its respiratory virus and shingles vaccines. GSK said it expects the majority of its sales of shingles vaccine Shingrix in China in the first half 2024.

First-quarter turnover rose to 7.36 billion pounds ($9.19 billion) from GBP6.95 billion the year prior, beating a company-compiled consensus estimate of GBP7.07 billion. Its vaccine sales rose by double-digits as U.S. demand for its recently launched respiratory syncytial virus vaccine Arexvy and market growth for Shingrix in international and European markets offset the six percentage points decline in Covid-19 sales compared to the prior year period. Sales of Arexvy came to GBP182 million during the period.

Net profit fell to GBP1.05 billion from GBP1.49 billion the year prior, missing analysts' expectations of GBP1.15 billion. Core earnings per share--one of the company's preferred metrics, which strips out exceptional and other one-off items--rose 28% at constant exchange rates to 43.1 pence.

GSK declared a dividend of 15 pence for the first quarter, and expects to pay out a dividend of 60 pence for the full year.

Write to Helena Smolak at helena.smolak@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 01, 2024 03:11 ET (07:11 GMT)

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