GlaxoSmithKline Posts GBP354 Million Net Loss in 4Q

By Denise Roland 

GlaxoSmithKline PLC swung to a net loss in the fourth quarter of the year even as revenue increased, largely due to restructuring costs following its three-part transaction with Novartis AG.

The U.K.-based drugmaker said its loss attributable to shareholders was GBP354 million ($510 million) in the quarter ending Dec. 31, compared with a GBP1 billion profit a year earlier, while revenue climbed to GBP6.3 billion from GBP6.2 billion. Core net profit, which strips out some one-time items, fell 34% to GBP874 million. Analysts had expected revenue of GBP6.3 billion and core net profit of GBP903 million.

The decline in core net profit was largely down to Glaxo's shift to a higher-volume, lower-margin business following its $20 billion asset-swap deal with Novartis. In that deal, which closed in the first quarter of 2015, Glaxo traded its cancer drugs for the Swiss company's vaccines business. The pair also formed a joint venture for their consumer health care businesses which span over-the-counter drugs, such as painkiller Panadol, as well as non-pharmaceuticals like toothpaste.

Write to Denise Roland at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 03, 2016 08:08 ET (13:08 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.