By Cecilia Butini 
 

GlaxoSmithKline PLC on Wednesday posted a slightly declining net profit for the third quarter despite higher sales, and raised its outlook for its 2021 adjusted earnings per share.

The British pharma major said net profit for the period was 1.17 billion pounds ($1.61 billion), slightly down from $1.24 billion the year prior but beating a consensus provided by FactSet which saw the metric at GBP844 million.

Adjusted earnings per share, a closely-watched metric which leaves out some one-off items, came in at 36.6 pence for the period, also beating a FactSet consensus which saw it at 28.63 pence. Adjusted earnings per share in the same quarter the previous year were 35.60 pence.

Sales rose to GBP9.08 billion in the quarter from GBP8.65 billion the previous year, GSK said.

The company raised its outlook on adjusted earnings per share for 2021, saying it now expects the metric to decline between 2% and 4% at constant exchange rates excluding Covid-19 solutions. It had previously foreseen a mid-to-high single-digit decline.

Looking ahead, it reconfirmed the expectation for meaningful improvement in revenues and margin in 2022.

GSK also declared a dividend of 19 pence for the third quarter, continuing to expect 80 pence a share for 2021.

 

Write to Cecilia Butini at cecilia.butini@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 27, 2021 07:38 ET (11:38 GMT)

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