GlaxoSmithKline Plc., has posted satisfactory performance during the third quarter ended September 2011 on account of higher growth in emerging markets and Japan. The net profit for the quarter increased by 7.5 per cent to £1,443 million from £1,343 million in the corresponding period of last year despite challenging conditions. Its turnover increased by 4.3 per cent to £7,104 million from £6,813 million, with pharmaceutical and vaccines turnover up by 3 per cent to £5,775 million. Consumer Healthcare sales increased by 5 per cent to £1,329 million. The breadth and mix of GSK's product and geographic portfolio is helping the Group to mitigate economic volatility.

The decline in sales of pandemic related products, Avandia and Valtrex as expected had a negative impact on reported pharmaceuticals and vaccines sales growth in all regions in the quarter. The sales of these products declined to £112 million from £241 million in the similar quarter of last year. The impact of European austerity price cuts and US Healthcare Reform measures together reduced Group sales by approximately £71 million during the quarter under review.

Andrew Witty, CEO, said, “We delivered underlying and reported sales growth of 6 per cent and 3 per cent respectively, reflecting growth across all three areas of our business – pharmaceuticals, vaccines and consumer healthcare. Vaccines was particularly strong in the quarter, reflecting some phasing benefits, primarily relating to sales of Cervarix for the roll-out of Japan's national HPV programme. We have delivered average quarterly underlying sales growth of around 4.5 per cent over the last 7 quarters.”

“The business continues to be highly cash generative and in the third quarter, we generated cash inflows of over £2 billion before legal settlements. We continue to see significant opportunities to further improve cash generation over time. We also remain focused on improving returns on investment in R&D and by year end we will finalise investment allocation decisions for our Discovery performance Units for the next three years business cycle,” he added.

For the nine months period ended September 2011, GSK's net profit jumped by 67.9 per cent to £4,174 million from £2,486 million in the similar period of last year. Its revenues, however, declined by 3.7 per cent to £20,409 million from £21,195 million. Its pharmaceutical sales in USA declined by 6 per cent to £5,219 million from £5,794 million and that in Europe declined by 13 per cent to £4,322 million from £4,900 million. Sales in emerging markets and Asia Pacific region increased by 7 per cent and 5 per cent respectively during the first nine months months.