Cold comfort for Haleon

HALEON, the GlaxoSmithKline spinoff, raised growth forecasts as it benefited from a bounceback in demand for its flu and cold treatments after lockdowns ended.

The owner of brands such as Centrum vitamins and Sensodyne toothpaste, said revenues in the six months to the end of June were 13.4pc higher than in the same period a year earlier, at £5.2bn.

Sales were helped by winter bugs returning when people started socialising again and this, combined with the Omicron variant of Covid, boosted demand for Haleon’s remedies for coughs and blocked noses, which include Otrivin and Theraflu.

It also enjoyed double-digit growth across its pain relief, vitamins, minerals and supplement products. And strong price rises across Europe as inflation surged, pushed up revenues.

It predicted sales growth of 6pc to 8pc, up from 4pc to 6pc. The shares were down 1.8pc, or 5.4p, to 303.5p.