Pharmaceutical giant GSK has hiked its 2031 sales forecast to more than £40bn, up from £38bn, after reporting better than forecast fourth quarter earnings.

The London-listed pharma giant reported core earnings per share of 23.2p for the quarter, a drop of around 20 per cent year-on-year. However, this was greater than the 19p that analysts had forecast.

For the year as a whole, in 2024, the group reported core earnings per share of 159.3p, up 10 per cent at constant exchange rates.

Turnover rose seven per cent at constant exchange rates to £31.4bn or eight per cent, excluding Covid pandemic-related sales.

GSK announced a 16p per share dividend for the fourth quarter, taking the full-year payout to 61p. It said it expected to pay out 64p in 2025.

The group also said it would return £2bn to investors over the next 18 months y way of a share buyback.

GSK’s forward sales projections

For the year ahead, GSK said it expects turnover to grow between three to five per cent in 2025, alongside core operating profit growth of between six to eight per cent.