On Thursday, consumer healthcare products manufacturer Haleon reported solid annual results for 2023, boosting its share price.
The British group announced this morning that it generated sales up 4.1% to 11.3 billion pounds last year, including organic growth of 8%.
In a reaction note, analysts at UBS point out that the owner of the Advil, Sensodyne, Voltaren and Polident brands recorded organic growth of 6.7% in the fourth quarter, against a consensus of 5%.
Above all, this better-than-expected performance can be attributed both to good volumes and mix (+0.3% vs. a consensus of -0.2%), and to prices (+6.4% vs. +5.5% expected)", notes the research firm.
For 2024, Haleon anticipates "another year of strong growth", with organic growth expected to be between 4% and 6%.
The company also plans to allocate £500 million to share buy-backs over the year.
Following these announcements, the share price climbed over 6% on the London Stock Exchange on Thursday morning, making it one of the biggest risers on the pan-European STOXX 600 index.
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Haleon plc specializes in the research, manufacture and marketing of drugs and consumer pharmaceutical products. Net sales break down by family of products as follows:
- oral health products (27.7%; no. 1 worldwide): Sensodyne, Parodontax, Polident, Biotene, Aquafresh brands, etc.;
- Pain relief medicines (23.5%; no. 1 worldwide): Panadol, Advil, Voltaren, Excedrin brands, etc.;
- medicines for digestive health (18.9%; no. 1 worldwide): TUMS, Nicorette, ENO, Chap Stick, Fenistil, Nexium brands, etc.;
- respiratory medicines (15.4%; no. 1 worldwide): Theraflu, Otrivin, Flonase, Contac brands, etc.;
- vitamins, minerals and food supplements (14.5%; no. 1 worldwide): Centrum, Emergen-C, Caltrate brands, etc.
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: Europe/Middle East/Africa/Latin America (40.2%), North America (37.1%), and Asia/Pacific (22.7%).