GSK has raised £1.25 billion (€1.46 billion). from selling its entire remaining stake in consumer healthcare firm Haleon, the British drugmaker said.
GSK sold around 385 million shares at 324 pence apiece, amounting to a 4.2% stake in Haleon. The company was formed in a merger of GSK and Pfizer's consumer healthcare businesses in 2019.
The sale was at a discount of about 2.5% to Haleon's last close of 332.4 pence on Thursday.
The sell-off will allow GSK to sharpen its focus on vaccines, cancer and infectious diseases, which has been CEO Emma Walmsley's major focus to boost earnings at the drugmaker under its current strategy.
Haleon, in which GSK initially had a nearly 13% stake, was spun out and listed on the London Stock Exchange in July 2022.
This sale marks GSK's fourth offload in the Sensodyne toothpaste maker in just over a year.
Haleon Revenue
Earlier in May, Haleon reported first-quarter revenue slightly below market estimates on Wednesday, as volumes declined due to retailer destocking in U.S. and cooling demand for some of its medicines after a surge last year.
Haleon had earlier said that the first three months of 2024 would be impacted by a softer cold and flu season and a slowdown in painkiller Advil's sales in Canada, following a surge in demand last year.
Revenues stood at £2.92 billion (€3.4 billion) for the quarter ended March 31, slightly missing expectations of £2.93 billion (€3.43 billion), according to a company-compiled consensus.
On a reported basis, revenue was down 2.2% on last year.
"The miss in volumes more than offsets a (played down) margin beat, outlook no change. We could expect the stock to be an under performer this AM," Jefferies analysts said at the time.
Additional reporting by ESM
