Pharmaceutical giant GSK increases its full-year earnings outlook

The group – which recently spun off consumer brand Haleon – said it now expects constant currency annual sales growth of between 8 per cent and 10 per cent, and a rise in underlying earnings of between 15 per cent to 17 per cent.

But the guidance strips out Covid-19 solution sales, which GSK expects to be “substantially lower” going forward.

The upgrade comes after GSK posted an 18 per cent rise in sales to £7.8bn over the third quarter, up 9 per cent on a constant currency basis, which helped underlying earnings rise 18 per cent – or 4 per cent on a constant constant currency basis – to £2.6bn.

Underlying pre-tax profits rose 5 per cent with currency movement stripped out to £2.4bn, the company revealed in an announcement for investors.

Emma Walmsley, chief executive of GSK, said: “We are again raising our full-year guidance and expect good momentum in 2023, further strengthening our confidence in our performance outlooks, driven by Shingrix global expansion and expected new launches including our new RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) vaccine.

She added in a statement: “We are also making good progress to strengthen our early-stage pipeline and will continue to invest in targeted business development to build optionality and support growth in the second half of the decade.”