The Lemon Fool

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Group sales £30.8 billion, +2% AER, +5% CER


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Pharmaceuticals sales £17.3 billion, flat AER, +2% CER; Vaccines sales £5.9 billion, +14% AER, +16% CER; Consumer Healthcare sales £7.7 billion, -1% AER, +2% CER


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Total new Respiratory product sales £2.6 billion, +35% AER, +38% CER


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Total HIV sales £4.7 billion, +9% AER, +11% CER. Dolutegravir-based regimens £4.4 billion, +14% AER, +16% CER


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Shingrix sales £784 million, +>100% AER, +>100% CER


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Total Group operating margin 17.8%, +4.3 percentage points AER, +5.0 percentage points CER


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Adjusted Group operating margin 28.4%, flat AER, +0.5 percentage points CER. (Pharmaceuticals: 33.3%; Vaccines 33.0%; Consumer Healthcare 19.8%)


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Total EPS 73.7p, +>100% AER, +>100% CER, reflecting stronger operating performance, lower restructuring and impairment charges as well as a favourable comparison with impact of US tax reform in 2017


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Adjusted EPS 119.4p, +7% AER, +12% CER, driven by improved operating margin and continued financial efficiencies


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Net cash flow from operations £8.4 billion. Free cash flow £5.7 billion, improvement reflecting greater focus on cash conversion, particularly working capital


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23p dividend declared for the quarter; 80p for full year 2018


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4 major transactions, including new Consumer Healthcare JV, announced in 2018 to support strategy and reshape of the Group's portfolio

And later;

Quarterly dividends

The Board has declared a fourth interim dividend for 2018 of 23 pence per share (Q4 2017: 23 pence per share).



GSK recognises the importance of dividends to shareholders and aims to distribute regular dividend payments that will be determined primarily with reference to the free cash flow generated by the business after funding the investment necessary to support the Group's future growth.



The Board intends to maintain the dividend for 2019 at the current level of 80p per share, subject to any material change in the external environment or performance expectations. Over time, as free cash flow strengthens, it intends to build free cash flow cover of the annual dividend to a target range of 1.25-1.50x, before returning the dividend to growth.



Payment of dividends

The equivalent interim dividend receivable by ADR holders will be calculated based on the exchange rate on 9 April 2019. An annual fee of $0.03 per ADS (or $0.0075 per ADS per quarter) (2018: $0.02 per ADS; $0.005 per ADS per quarter) is charged by the Depositary.



The ex-dividend date will be 21 February 2019, with a record date of 22 February 2019 and a payment date of 11 April 2019.