GlaxoSmithKline 3Q Net Profit Beats Market Forecasts -- Earnings Review

By Ian Walker

GlaxoSmithKline PLC has reported a market beating third-quarter net profit, and backed its full-year guidance. Here's what you need to know:

SALES: Sales for the quarter were 8.65 billion pounds ($11.28 billion) compared with GBP9.39 billion and a forecast of GBP8.82 billion, taken from FactSet and based on 11 analysts forecasts.

NET INCOME: Net profit was GBP1.24 billion, beating a consensus of GBP876.2 million, taken from FactSet and based on three analysts forecasts.

CORE EPS: Core EPS--a metric closely watched by analysts that strips out one-off items--came in at 35.60 pence and was up 1% on constant exchange rates. This compared with a forecast of 30.40 pence, taken from FactSet and based on 12 analysts estimates.

WHAT WE WATCHED:

-GUIDANCE: Glaxo reiterated that it expects adjusted EPS to decline by between 1% and 4% at constant rates in 2020, and would be at the lower end of this range on a CER basis. JPMorgan Cazenove had expected the company to direct expectations toward the more negative end of an anticipated drop.

-CORONAVIRUS: Chief Executive Emma Walmsley said the company is "urgently advancing" possible Covid-19 solutions with its partners, and expects see data on all of these before the end of the year.

-DIVIDENDS: Glaxo kept its fourth-quarter dividend unchanged at 19 pence a share but didn't say anything about the full-year payout. It had previously said the company plans to pay an unchanged dividend of 80 pence a share for the year.

Write to Ian Walker at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 28, 2020 09:17 ET (13:17 GMT)

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