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Oct 27 (Reuters) - Britain's GSK delivered
better-than-expected third-quarter results on Wednesday and
raised its annual profit outlook, boosted by strong sales of key
drugs and cost cutting ahead of a planned split next year.
The drugmaker now expects 2021 adjusted earnings per share
to decline by between 2% and 4% at constant exchange rates,
excluding any boost from its COVID-19 offerings. GSK previously
expected profit to fall by mid-to-high single digit percentages.
Turnover at the world's biggest vaccine maker by sales rose
5% to 9.07 billion pounds ($12.5 billion) for the three months
to Sept. 30, while adjusted earnings were up 3% to 36.6 pence
per share.
Analysts had expected third-quarter earnings of 29.4 pence
per share on sales of 8.73 billion pounds, a company-compiled
consensus https://www.gsk.com/en-gb/investors/analyst-consensus/analyst-consensus
showed.
GSK stuck by its plan to spin off its consumer health
business in 2022, after a report the unit could attract bids
from private equity firms.
Activist investors Elliott and Bluebell have called for a
sale of the unit, among other proposals for "New GSK", including
leadership changes.
"We also continue to make excellent progress towards
unlocking the value of Consumer Healthcare through a successful
demerger in mid-2022," GSK CEO Emma Walmsley said in Wednesday's
results statement.
($1 = 0.7272 pounds)
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru and Ludwig Burger
in Frankfurt; writing by Josephine Mason; Editing by Jason Neely
and Alexander Smith)
