Yahoo Finance GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript
GSK plc (NYSE:GSK) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript May 4, 2024
GSK plc isn't one of the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds at the end of the third quarter (see the details here).
Nick Stone: Hello everyone. Welcome to today’s call and webcast. The presentation was sent to our distribution list by email, and you can also find it on gsk.com. Please turn to Slide 2. This is the usual safe harbor statement. We will comment on our performance using constant exchange rates or CER unless stated otherwise. As a reminder, adjusted results are now referred to as core, like many European pharmaceutical peers. Please turn to Slide 3. Today’s call will last approximately one hour, with the presentation taking around 25 minutes and the remaining time for your questions. Today, our speakers are Emma Walmsley, Luke Miels, Deborah Waterhouse and Julie Brown, with Tony Wood and David Redfern joining for Q&A. Please ask one to two questions so that everyone has a chance to participate. Turning to Slide 4, I will now hand the call to Emma.
Emma Walmsley: Thanks, Nick, and welcome to everybody joining us today. I’m delighted to be presenting to you all with another set of excellent quarterly results for GSK. Please turn to the next slide. We have had a very strong start to the year. Sales and profits grew double digits for the quarter, with sales up 13% to £7.4 billion, core operating profit up 35% to £2.4 billion, and core earnings per share up 37% to £43.1 all excluding COVID solutions. This excellent performance reflects our continued focus on execution, some benefit from phasing in the quarter, and strong delivery of our recent launches. It also demonstrates the great momentum we continue to see across the business. Demand for our innovative vaccines and specialty medicines was clear, with strong growth across new products.
Our very good sales performance was also underpinned by good cost control. Julie will take you through the details on this in a moment, but I particularly want to highlight our SG&A performance, which was delivered alongside increased investment in R&D demonstrating continued delivery of effective operating leverage and margin improvement. These benefits are also delivering improved cash flow providing funds for investment and returns to shareholders. Our dividend for the quarter was £15. For the full-year, we are upgrading our guidance and looking forward to delivering another year of meaningful growth for shareholders. Next slide, please. Alongside our excellent financial performance, we have seen strong pipeline progress across the therapy areas, with Phase III data readouts for four medicines.
For Gepotidacin, further pivotal data that supports regulatory submission of this new antibiotic. For Cabenuva, further evidence of superior efficacy. For Jemperli, potential broader use of this medicine to treat endometrial cancer. And lastly, encouraging clinical data supporting use of Blenrep for the treatment of multiple myeloma. These data will be presented at ASCO. And we look forward to sharing more with you on our plans for oncology at our ‘Meet the Management’ event in June. These readouts, together with other R&D achievements this quarter, mean we have strengthened growth prospects in all of our key therapeutic areas. Three material points I would highlight. First, we continue to strengthen our innovative Vaccine portfolio this quarter.
With regulatory submission of our new 5-in-1 meningococcal vaccine candidate alongside new expansion opportunities for both Arexvy in the U.S., and Shingrix in China. Second, positive clinical trial findings for an ultra-long-acting formulation of cabotegravir further supporting progression of this medicine, and confidence in the important transition we expect in our HIV portfolio for long-term growth. And third, in Respiratory we completed the acquisition of Aiolos Bio. A signal of our continued investment and leadership in this disease area where a next important step will be sharing data for depemokimab, which we expect in Q2. Next slide, please. Alongside delivering stronger shareholder returns, we continue to build trust by delivering across the six key areas we prioritise for ESG.
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