GSK Shares Fall Despite Earnings Beat as Vaccine Sales Disappoint
GSK stock dropped sharply on the FTSE 100 after weak RSV and shingles vaccine sales offset better-than-expected core earnings results.
Shares in GSK tumbled Wednesday, making the British pharmaceutical giant one of the biggest decliners on the FTSE 100, even as the company posted financial results that topped analyst forecasts for the third quarter.
The UK drugmaker reported a 19% drop in pre-tax profit to £1.9 billion for the July-to-September period, alongside £318 million in restructuring charges with more anticipated in coming quarters. Investors appeared to look past the headline earnings beat, focusing instead on softness in sales of its RSV and shingles vaccines as well as recently launched medicines.
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Core operating profit and core earnings per share rose 5% and 1% respectively, clearing the bar set by analysts. Yet those gains were insufficient to reassure markets rattled by the vaccine revenue shortfall, a segment investors had viewed as a key growth driver for Britain's second-largest pharmaceutical company.
The selloff reflects broader investor anxiety about near-term growth momentum in GSK's vaccine and specialty medicines portfolio, even as management pursues a restructuring program aimed at streamlining operations. The scale of additional charges still to come adds another layer of uncertainty to the outlook.
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