GSK’s third quarter revenue grew 8% to £8.5bn (£8.2bn expected) when ignoring currency moves. All segments and regions were up, with speciality medicines and Europe leading the growth.
Underlying operating profit rose 11% to £3.0bn, helped by a shift in the sales mix towards higher margin products.
Free cash flow fell by £0.1bn to £1.2bn, reflecting a higher level of capital expenditure. Net debt of £14.4bn is up £1.4bn year to date driven by acquisitions and shareholder payouts.
GSK declared a quarterly dividend of 16p, with a total of 64p still expected for the year.
Full year sales growth guidance has been upgraded from around 5% to 6-7%, and underlying operating profit guidance has been upped from 8% to 9-11% growth.
The shares rose 4.2% in early trading.
Our view
HL view to follow.
GSK key facts
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