Haleon PLC faces a familiar market dilemma after solid profit delivery was overshadowed by weaker than expected sales growth and cautious guidance.
Fourth quarter organic growth of 2.1% disappointed, said Deutsche Bank, with misses in EMEA, Latin America and Asia Pacific, while North America was still down 1.0% like for like.
Oral Care grew 9.3%, but Respiratory fell 4.6% and other categories were subdued.
Second half reported EBIT beat consensus by 2.4% and earnings per share by 3.4%, helped by cost control.
For 2026, Haleon is guiding to 3-5% organic revenue growth and high single-digit constant currency EBIT growth.
However, Deutsche points out that the 3-5% sales range is below the group’s longer-term algorithm and makes its 4-6% medium term target "not look credible", particularly after a year of destocking in the drug channel.
Shares in Haleon fell over 7% on Wednesday, following the results, but were back up 3.4% to 390.8p on Thursday.
With the shares trading on around 20 times 2026 earnings, the bank's analysts said "we expect the weak top line guide to be the overriding factor over the course of events", reiterating their 'sell' rating and 335p price target verus the last close at 377.9p.