Growing demand for new drugs helped GlaxoSmithKline beat forecasts for fourth-quarter earnings by a small margin on Wednesday, offsetting a continued slide in sales of its older Advair respiratory medicine.
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Sales, in sterling terms, rose 2 percent to 6.29 billion pounds ($9.12 billion) in the three months ended Dec. 31, generating core earnings per share (EPS) down 34 percent at 18.1 pence.
Analysts on average had forecast sales of 6.25 billion pounds and core EPS, which excludes certain items, of 17.9p, according to Thomson Reuters.