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* Sees mid-to-high single digit fall in 2021 earnings
* Pressured by COVID-19 disruptions, investment
* Split into two companies on track
* Shares fall as much as 5%
(Adds CEO comments from media call, link to breakingviews)
By Pushkala Aripaka and Ludwig Burger
Feb 3 (Reuters) - Britain's GSK warned of a bigger
than expected fall in 2021 earnings as the COVID-19 pandemic
continues to disrupt other healthcare treatments and it invests
in new medicines ahead of a split from its consumer products
business next year.
The news came hours after the world's biggest vaccines maker
by sales struck a deal to work on the next generation of shots
to combat new COVID-19 variants, aiming to get its
pandemic-fighting efforts back on track after two big setbacks.
"The race is on for a variety of different technologies to
get as many people protected around the world as possible," CEO
Emma Walmsley said on Wednesday, after GSK announced the
collaboration with Germany's CureVac.
Rather than developing its own COVID-19 shot, GSK has so far
focused on supplying its vaccine booster to other drugmakers.
But a project with Sanofi has been delayed, and
China's Clover ended its deal with GSK on Monday.
Meanwhile, companies using new technologies like mRNA,
including Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna
, are already rolling out COVID-19 vaccines.
Walmsley said she stood by the group's work on more
traditional vaccine technologies with partners such as Sanofi
and Canada's Medicago.
"The key is to make sure that we follow and get ahead of the
future of this virus," she said.
However, GSK's sombre outlook and a warning that it expects
to pay a lower dividend after the group splits up in 2022 sent
its shares tumbling as much as 5% to the bottom of London's
blue-chip index
GSK expects adjusted earnings to fall by a mid- to
high-single digit percentage at constant currency this year.
Analysts' 2021 consensus had been for a decline of about 3%.
While the onset of the pandemic boosted demand for GSK's
over-the-counter painkillers, it has hit its vaccines business,
including its flagship shot for shingles, as health authorities
focused on COVID-19 and patients made fewer trips to doctors.
GSK's shares were down 3.3% at 1,323.8 pence at 1445 GMT.
The group last year launched a two-year programme to split
in two after the merger of its over-the-counter products
business into a venture with Pfizer.
That process is on track, GSK said on Wednesday.
"GSK in its current iteration seems to be struggling to set
out a clear vision of what it offers investors. Hopefully its
successor companies are a little more streamlined," said
Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Nicholas Hyett.
($1 = 0.7335 pounds)
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru and Ludwig Burger
in Frankfurt; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Mark Potter)
