Pharmaceuticals colossus GlaxoSmithKline (LON:GSK) has stuck with its full-year guidance despite better than expected third quarter figures.
The company said the benefits of its three-way asset swap are beginning to feed through, both to the top and bottom lines.
Group turnover in the third quarter was £6.13bn, up 11% year-on-year on a constant currency (CC) basis or 5% on a pro-forma CC basis that takes into account asset sales and purchases.
The Pharmaceuticals division saw turnover fall 7%, but the Vaccines arm’s sales rose 32% while the Consumer Healthcare unit’s turnover jumped 55%, with all three businesses reflecting the impact of the asset swap with Swiss drugs giant Novartis.
Core profit before tax was down 5% on a pro forma CC basis at £1.57bn, while core earnings per share of 23p were down 13%, though that was well above the 19.4p a share pencilled in by analysts.
“In Consumer Healthcare the recently switched Rx/OTC product Flonase contributed to sales growth of 7%. In our Pharmaceutical and Vaccines businesses, sales of new products were £591 million, more than offsetting the decline in Seretide/Advair sales of £182 million and demonstrating progress in transitioning to our new portfolio,” said Sir Andrew Witty, Glaxo’s chief executive officer.
“HIV remains the stand-out performer with sales increasing 65%, reflecting continued strong momentum from Tivicay and Triumeq,” he added.
"We remain focused on delivering sustained improvements in operational performance and are confident in our outlook for the rest of this year and a return to earnings growth in 2016," he added.
Shares in Glaxo were up 3.8% at 1,419.16p in London trading.