(Adds detail, background)
July 28 (Reuters) - GSK forecast a smaller drop in
2021 profit on Wednesday as the drugmaker beat second-quarter
earnings expectations, buoyed by a pick up at its vaccines
business as routine hospital visits recovered amid an of easing
pandemic restrictions.
The British company, which is spinning off its consumer
health arm to focus on improving its pharmaceuticals business,
said it made adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of 28.1 pence in
the three months to the end of June on sales of 8.1 billion
pounds ($11.2 billion).
Analysts had on average expected adjusted EPS of 19.9 pence
on turnover of 7.56 billion pounds, according to a
company-compiled consensus https://www.gsk.com/en-gb/investors/analyst-consensus/analyst-consensus.
"We expect this positive momentum to continue through the
second half of the year driving us towards the better end of our
earnings guidance range for 2021, and meaningful performance
improvement in 2022," CEO Emma Walmsley said in a statement.
The world's biggest vaccines maker by sales has forecast
adjusted EPS will decline by a mid to high-single digit
percentage this year.
Pressure to show sustainable growth has mounted on Walmsley
after years of underperformance at GSK's pharmaceuticals
business. The company has also locked horns with activist
investor Elliott over its future after the spin-off next year.
($1 = 0.7206 pounds)
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru and Alistair Smout
in London
Editing by Mark Potter)