Haleon fourth quarter sales growth pegged by weak cold and flu season

Haleon PLC on Wednesday reported lower than expected fourth quarter organic sales growth held back by a weak flu and cold season.

The consumer healthcare firm which owns brands such as Sensodyne oral care products and painkiller Panadol said pretax profit improved 13% to £2.15 billion in 2025 from £1.91 billion the year prior.

Operating profit picked up 9.0% to £2.41 billion from £2.21 billion. Basic earnings per share improved 18.6 pence from 15.8p, or to 18.5p from 15.7p on a diluted per share basis.

However, revenue fell 1.8% to £11.03 billion from £11.23 billion, with organic revenue growth of 3.0%, below its medium-term guidance of 4% to 6% annual organic revenue growth.

In the fourth quarter, organic sales growth was 2.1% below consensus of 3.5%.

Haleon said a headwind from a weak cold and flu season was estimated to be a 150 basis points impact in the fourth quarter and around 40 bps for the full-year.

In response, shares in Haleon fell 4.0% to 389.30 pence each in London on Wednesday.

Chief Executive Brian McNamara said: ‘Organic revenue growth of 3% was below our medium-term expectations, primarily reflecting a weak cold flu season and low consumer confidence in North America. We delivered strong gross margin improvement and double-digit organic profit growth, combined with strong cash generation.’

Gross margin improved 350 basis points to 64.2% and by 22 bps to 65.2% on an adjusted basis.

For 2025, North America reported an organic sales decline of 0.4%, while sales grew 4.4% in Europe, Middle East & Africa and Latin America, and 5.2% in Asia-Pacific.

Oral Health organic sales rose 7.9%, VMS sales by 1.9%, Pain Relief by 2.3% and Digestive Health by 0.5% in 2025 on-year. But sales in Respiratory Health fell 1.9%.

For 2026, Haleon expects 3% to 5% organic revenue growth, compared to 4.4% consensus, and its 4% to 6% mid-term guide.

The firm predicts ‘high-single digit adjusted operating profit growth at constant currency’.

It expects a foreign exchange translation headwind, hitting net revenue and adjusted operating profit by around 1%.

In addition, it announced it has allocated £500 million into buybacks in 2026.

Haleon upped its final dividend by 6.5% to 4.9 pence per share from 4.6p. It meant for a total dividend of 7.1p per share, up 7.6% from 6.6p.

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