GSK ups five-year sales outlook, unveils $2bn buyback

(Sharecast News) - GSK's annual revenues were held back weak vaccines sales, but shares in the pharma giant jumped on Wednesday after the company unveiled plans to buy back £2bn of stock over the next 18 months and raised its guidance for long-term growth. Sales in 2024 increased by 3% to £31.38bn, driven by 19% sales growth from its specialty medicines division, with HIV treatments up 13% and oncology drug sales surging 98%. General medicines sales were also 6% higher over the year.

However, vaccine sales were down 4%, following a spate of downgrades to forecasts in recent months, with the company pointing to further declines in 2025.

The top-line results came in slightly short of the £32bn expected by analysts, while core earnings per share rose 3% to 159.3p, missing the 163.9p consensus estimate.

GSK declared a fourth-quarter interim dividend of 16p per share, up slightly from the 15p paid out for the first three quarters, taking the full-year payout to 61p, up from 58p in 2023.

Looking ahead, due to progress in its late-stage drug pipeline - with 19 of its 71 specialty medicines and vaccines in clinical development in the phase III or registration stage - GSK raised its five-year sales outlook, pointing to sales of more than £40bn, up from £38bn previously.

For 2025, turnover is expected to grow by 3-5%, while core EPS growth is tipped to be 6-8%. Specialty medicines sales are forecast to increase a a low double-digit percentage rate, general medicines are expected to be flat while vaccines will fall by a low single-digit rate, the company said.

"GSK delivered another year of excellent performance in 2024, with strong sales and core profit growth driven by accelerating momentum of our specialty medicines portfolio. This, together with outstanding phase III pipeline progress, means we expect another year of profitable growth in 2025," said chief executive Emma Walmsley.