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GSK PLC on Wednesday backed guidance after fourth-quarter results beat expectations, driven by growth in its Specialty Medicines and Vaccines divisions and lower-than-expected expenses. The London-based pharmaceuticals company reported pretax profit of £1.48 billion in the three months that ended December 31, up 15% from £1.29 billion a year prior and ahead of company compiled-consensus of £1.37 billion. Core operating profit rose 14% to £1.63 billion from £1.43 billion, with core earnings per share up 9.9% to 25.5 pence from 23.2p, both ahead of consensus of £1.53 billion and 23.0p, respectively. Turnover increased 6.2% to £8.62 billion from £8.12 billion, ahead of £8.50 billion market consensus. Selling, general & administration expenses fell modestly to £2.68 billion from £2.70 billion, beating consensus which had forecast a rise to £2.86 billion. Specialty Medicines sales grew 18% to £3.81 billion at constant currency, including a 42% increase in oncology sales. Vaccines revenue rose 4% to £2.29 billion, led by 25% growth in RSV drug sales and 20% growth in shingles sales, while influenza sales dropped 24% - all at constant currency. General Medicines sales fell 3% to £2.52 billion. Consensus forecast Speciality Medicines sales of £3.67 billion, Vaccines sales of £2.21 billion and General Medicines sales of £2.62 billion. Shares in GSK were up 1.8% at 1,980.50 pence each in London on Wednesday. The wider FTSE 100 index was up 0.5%. By region, US sales rose 7% at constant currency, Europe grew 13% and International by 7%. Delivering his first set of results, GSK Chief Executive Luke Miels hailed a ‘strong performance’ in 2025, ‘driven mainly by Specialty Medicines, with double-digit sales growth in Respiratory, Immunology & Inflammation, Oncology and HIV.’ ‘We expect this positive momentum to continue in 2026, which will be a key year of execution and operational delivery with strong focus on commercial launches and accelerating R&D. We are well placed to move forward in this next phase for GSK - to deliver our outlooks - and to create new value for patients and shareholders.’ Miels took over as CEO at the start of the year after Emma Walmsley stepped down. GSK expects further drug pipeline acceleration in 2026, noting two new major product approvals expected for bepirovirsen and tebipenem, plus five pivotal readouts for bepirovirsen, camlipixant, Jemperli, Q4M and Exdensur. In addition, GSK said 10 pivotal trials are set to start. GSK reiterated guidance for 2026 and reaffirmed its 2031 sales outlook. The company expects 2026 turnover growth of between 3% to 5%, core operating profit growth of between 7% to 9% and core EPS growth of between 7% to 9%. It expects 2031 sales of more than £40 billion. For all of 2025, GSK reported turnover of £32.67 billion, up 4.1% from £31.38 billion in 2024. Pretax profit more than doubled to £7.41 billion in 2025 from £3.48 billion in 2024, as cost of sales falls 0.3% to £9.02 billion from £9.05 billion. Core operating profit rose to £9.78 billion from £9.15 billion and core EPS of 172.0p up from 159.3p. GSK declared a fourth-quarter dividend of 18 pence per share, up 13% from 16p a year prior. The total 2025 dividend therefore is 66p, up 8.2% from 61p in 2024. GSK expects to declare a 70p per share dividend for 2026, which would represent a 6.1% increase. Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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