LONDON (Alliance News) - GlaxoSmithKline PLC on Wednesday reported a rise in profit for the first quarter of the year, led by a continuing rise in vaccine sales.
The pharmaceutical firm posted pretax profit of GBP1.30 billion for the three months to March 31, 17% ahead of its GBP1.11 billion profit in 2018.
Revenue was GBP7.66 billion, rising 6.1% from GBP7.22 billion the year before. Within this, Vaccines revenue was up 23% at GBP1.52 billion from GBP1.24 billion.
Pharmaceuticals revenue was up 3.7% at GBP4.16 billion versus GBP4.01 billion and Consumer Healthcare revenue was flat at GBP1.98 billion.
The rise in Vaccines revenue was led by Glaxo's Shingrix vaccine, as well as an increased demand for the company's meningitis and Hepatitis vaccines. Shringrix has been a key vaccine for Glaxo, having also contributed strongly to a 14% increase in Vaccines revenue in 2018.
The company declared a unchanged quarterly dividend of 19 pence per share for the period. Glaxo, as in 2018, expects to pay a total dividend of 80 pence for the full 2019 year.
For 2019, the company expects adjusted earnings per share to decline by between 5% and 9% at constant currency. The decline will result from the launch of a generic competitor for Glaxo's Advair asthma and COPD drug in the US, as well as its acquisition of cancer drug maker Tesaro Inc for USD5.1 billion in December 2018.
Adjusted earnings per share for the first quarter stood at 30.1 pence, up 22%.
The guidance assumes that Glaxo's Consumer Healthcare nutrition disposal to Unilever PLC closes by the end of of the year and its planned Consumer Healthcare joint venture with Pfizer Inc closes in the second half.
Glaxo Chief Executive Emma Walmsley said: "We have made a strong start to 2019, which is an important year of execution for GSK, with growth in sales, operating margins and earnings per share in Q1, in line with our expectations. Strengthening our pipeline remains our number one priority and we reported positive data for several potential new medicines in HIV and Oncology during the quarter. I am also pleased to report that integration planning for our new proposed consumer healthcare business is going well and, subject to relevant approvals, we continue to expect to complete this transaction in the second half of the year. We look forward to building on the progress made this quarter."
Shares in Glaxo were up 0.1% at 1,575.60p on Wednesday.