Drugs giant GSK posts upbeat Q3

[LONDON] British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline on Wednesday posted rising third-quarter earnings and revenues, buoyed by sales of HIV drugs and its asset swap deal with Swiss peer Novartis.

Net profit, or earnings after taxation, rallied 34 percent to £538 million in the three months to September compared with the same period a year earlier, GSK said in a statement.

Revenue meanwhile climbed nine percent to £6.127 billion.

Profit excluding certain costs and stripping out the impact of currency fluctuation slid five percent to £1.72 billion, the London-listed group added.

That was higher than market expectations of £1.48 billion, according to analysts polled by Bloomberg News.

New medicines such as AIDS treatments Tivicay and Triumeq are helping make up for slumping revenue from Glaxo's biggest drug, Advair.

"This quarter's performance reflects continued execution of our strategy," said GSK chief executive Andrew Witty.

"The benefits of the recent (Novartis) transaction are becoming evident in our sales and earnings performance and we have made good progress on our restructuring and integration programmes during the quarter." GSK sold its oncology business to Novartis last year for US$16 billion, while buying the Swiss group's vaccines division in return, in a deal that completed in the first quarter. The pair also formed a joint venture for consumer health products.

AFP