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Pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline warned that it expected to post annual earnings at the lower end of its guidance range after its operating profit fell 13% in the third quarter.
The company said it expected adjusted earnings per share for the year through December to fall at the lower end of a 1%-to-4% range, on a constant currency basis.
Operating profit in the three months through September fell to £1.86 billion amid an 8% drop in revenue to £8.65 billion.
Sales of vaccines, such as for shingles, and for some pharmaceutical products were disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns.
GlaxoSmithKline declared a quarterly dividend of 19p per share.
A third-phase study for the company and Sanofi's adjuvanted recombinant protein-based vaccine candidate for Covid-19 was expected to start in December.
'GSK has responded well to a challenging operating environment this year with disciplined cost control and strong commercial momentum in key growth products including Nucala, Trelegy, Benlysta, 2 drug-HIV regimens, Zejula, Shingrix and our priority Consumer Healthcare brands,' chief executive Emma Walmsley said.
'This, combined with improving vaccination rates this quarter, means we are on track to deliver within our earnings guidance range for 2020.
'We are also urgently advancing possible COVID-19 Solutions with our partners, including clinical trials for antibody therapy VIR-7831 and three different adjuvanted vaccines.'
'We expect to see data on all of these before the end of the year.'
At 1:17pm: (LON:GSK) Glaxosmithkline PLC share price was -16.9p at 1344.1p