GSK has today raised its full-year profit and sales guidance after its second-quarter earnings beat expectations, helped by strong sales of its shingles vaccine Shingrix and HIV medicines.
The strong results may further help revive investor confidence in CEO Emma Walmsley.
They come a year after the company spun off its consumer health business, Haleon, in its most radical shake-up in 20 years.
The British drugmaker has lagged rivals in recent years, with some investors and analysts worried about the strength of its pipeline of drugs in development and costly US litigation over discontinued heartburn drug Zantac.
GSK reckons the spin-off has allowed the company to sharpen its focus on vaccines and infectious diseases and with $7 billion generated by the Haleon spin-off, it can fund deals to bolster a lacklustre drug pipeline.
The London-listed drugmaker said it now expects adjusted earnings per share growth of 14%-17% for the year, up from its earlier expectations of 12%-15%.
Sales will likely increase by 8% to 10% this year, compared with 6% to 8% previously and for adjusted operating profit to increase between 11 to 13%, up from 10% to 12%.
"We have delivered another excellent quarter of performance, with strong sales and earnings growth, notably in HIV and vaccines, and continued strengthening of the R&D pipeline and product portfolio," Walmsley said in a statement.
The company also reported an adjusted profit of 38.8 pence per share for the quarter, on sales of about £7.18 billion.
Analysts were expecting a profit of 34.7 pence per share on sales of about £6.77 billion, according to company-compiled consensus estimates.
Sales of Shingrix, the company's top-selling drug, generated £880m, beating analyst estimates of £872m.
GSK said that sales of its HIV treatments generated £1.58 billion in the quarter, ahead of the company-compiled consensus of about £1.5 billion in the quarter.
The results come ahead of the much-anticipated US launch in the autumn of the company's inoculation against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which GSK hopes will be its next blockbuster drug.
It was approved by US drug regulators last month.
RSV is a leading cause of pneumonia in toddlers and the elderly, causing thousands of hospitalisations and deaths each year.
