Haleon cuts full-year revenue guidance, shares slide

(Sharecast News) - Haleon shares tumbled on Thursday after the consumer healthcare firm cut its full-year organic revenue growth guidance, pointing to soft third-quarter cold and flu sales.

The company now expects 2026 organic revenue growth of around 2.5%, down from previous guidance of 3% to 5%.

In the three months to September end, organic revenue growth was 2.6%, below the company's expectations, with price up 2.1% and volume/mix up 0.5%.

The maker of Sensodyne and Panadol hailed continued strength in Oral Health - which saw an 8.8% rise in organic revenue to £930m - but said its performance was held back by soft cold and flu consumption, which led to lower orders in North America.

Revenue in North America was up 2.5% on an organic basis to £992m, while revenue in Europe was down 0.6% to £798m and Asia Pacific saw a 3.9% increase to £593m. International revenue rose 6.9% to £485m.

Chief executive Brian McNamara said: "Our third quarter organic revenue growth of 2.6% was below our expectations as we navigated softness across some of our categories including weaker cough, cold and flu consumption. We delivered strong performances in Oral Health and our turnaround plan in North America continues to make progress. We are clear on where we need to improve and we are taking action to deliver stronger performance despite challenging markets.

"High gross margin and continued progress on supply chain productivity provide us with a uniquely strong platform to invest behind our brands and capabilities while delivering strong growth in profit and cash. This also enables us to continue returning surplus capital to shareholders, and today we are announcing a further £500m allocation to share buybacks. Our key priority is to drive stronger volume growth and return the business to consistent delivery of our medium-term growth guidance."

At 0920 GMT, the shares were down 13.7% at 322.90p.

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