£500m share buyback puts a shine on Haleon

ShareS in Haleon rose after the Sensodyne toothpaste maker unveiled plans to return £500m to investors this year.

The FTSe 100 company’s bumper share buyback programme came as sales of its Otrivine nasal drops and cough mixtures flew off the shelves amid a heavy cold and flu season.

Following a 6pc rise in the final three months of last year, revenues increased 8pc to £11.3bn in 2023 while profits slightly increased to £1.63bn.

haleon reported strong sales in central and eastern europe and Otrivine did well in the Middle east and africa. It expects group revenues to grow between 4pc and 6pc this year.

Debt has fallen by more than £2bn since it was spun out of GSK and Pfizer’s merged consumer healthcare business 18 months ago. To cut costs it offloaded an anti-fungal medication brand last year and sold its lip balm brand Chapstick for £340m in January.

It said: ‘Selling these allows us to accelerate growth.’ Derren Nathan, at hargreaves Lansdown’, said that a ‘defensive portfolio’ of painkillers and toothpaste are ‘less susceptible to wobbles in the economy than more discretionary categories’.

haleon, which is also behind advil painkillers, floated at 330p in July 2022. Yesterday, it rose 5.6pc, or 17.5p, to 331.45p.

Prior to listing, it was a joint business with 68pc owned by GSK and the rest controlled by the pharma giant Pfizer.

Now, the pair hold 4.2pc and 32pc respectively.

GSK shared some good news after it avoided another day in court by agreeing a confidential settlement for a case that alleged its discontinued heartburn drug zantac caused cancer.

The pharma major said the settlement reflects its ‘desire to avoid the distraction related to protracted litigation ’, adding that it ‘does not admit any liability in this settlement’. Shares fell 0.3pc, or 5.2p, to 1664.6p.

On the wider market, the FTSE 100 inched up 0.07pc, or 5.04 points, to 7630.02 and the FTSE 250 was up by 0.22pc, or 41.29 points, to close at 19,054.87.

hopes of interest rate cuts remained on the cards after inflation in the United States rose 0.3pc in January.

and bitcoin, which is the world’s largest cryptocurrency, continued to close in on the record $69,000 (£ 54,600) that it reached in November 2021.

Energean steamed ahead 4.1pc, or 40.5p, to 1020p after the energy firm started production at its fourth well in Israel and signed a 15-year gas contract that will add around £1.6bn in revenues.

There were also big gains for the energy services provider Hunting after it swung back into profit of £40m in 2023, having made a £1.9m loss the year before.

revenues soared 28pc to £736m, boosting shares 11.5pc, or 34.5p, to 334.5p.

another riser was Howden Joinery after the kitchen supplier’s sales last year were roughly in line with a record 2022.

Its shares gained 7pc, or 54.4p, to 827p.

Hammerson, the owner of the Birmingham Bullring and Brent Cross shopping centres, posted a solid results for 2023 as shoppers flocked back to stores. Shares rose 2.5pc, or 0.62p, to 25.4p.

Demand for immigration services such as running removal centres and managing accommodation in the UK and europe sent Serco up 4.5pc, or 8.1p, to 187.3p.

The outsourcing giant also outlined plans to launch a £140m share buyback.

By contrast, the London Stock Exchange Group sank 0.4pc, or 36p, to 8876p after profits dipped 3.7pc to £1.2bn last year.