Former GSK unit Haleon posts 16% rise in Q3 sales

Haleon, the former consumer health arm of GSK, on Thursday reported a 16.1% increase in third-quarter revenue, driven by higher prices, and forecast organic sales growth of 8-8.5%.

The maker of Sensodyne toothpaste and Panadol painkillers reported a 14.9% rise in adjusted operating profit to £725m. For the three months to September 30 sales increased to £2.9bn.

“Operational performance remains as expected with pricing and increased efficiencies fully offsetting inflationary pressures, albeit we now would expect an increase in the adverse transactional foreign exchange impact from recent currency movements of up to 30 basis points,” the company said.

“Adjusted operating margin in FY22 is now expected to be slightly above last year at actual exchange rates (FY21: 22.8%), given recent favourable translational FX movements.”

Haleon was spun out of GSK as a separately listed company earlier this year with the former parent holding a 13.5% stake and rival pharma giant Pfizer 32%. A lockup agreement stopping both from selling the stock expires today.

"Haleon delivered another strong quarter of growth in Q3 with 8% organic revenue growth and double digit growth for the nine months, with increased pricing through the year and continued positive volume/mix," said chief executive Brian McNamara.

"We saw accelerated growth in the third quarter in Oral Health, whilst strong comparatives in Vitamins, Minerals and Supplements resulted in category revenue down slightly overall sales were similar to earlier quarters."

"Respiratory performance was strong given sustained incidences of Covid and cold and flu combined with successful innovation. Looking ahead given this positive momentum, we now expect FY organic revenue to be between 8.0-8.5% and have updated margin expectations for more favourable currency."

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com