Haleon cuts annual sales guidance as weaker cold and flu demand hits growth

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Haleon cuts sales guidance

Highlights

Haleon cuts its full-year organic revenue growth forecast to about 2.5% from 3-5% following weaker-than-expected third-quarter organic sales growth of 2.6%.
Shares in Haleon fall almost 16% after the update, as investors question its ability to recover to its medium-term sales and profit growth targets.
Weaker cold and flu demand, particularly in North America, plus disruptions to Centrum multivitamin imports in China, drive the underperformance and new guidance.

Forecast cut follows weaker third-quarter trading

As reported by Financial Times, Haleon cut its full-year organic revenue growth forecast to about 2.5 per cent from a previous range of 3 to 5 per cent after third-quarter organic sales rose 2.6 per cent, below the company’s expectations and under analysts’ forecasts for the year.

The British maker of Advil painkillers and Sensodyne toothpaste says a period of relatively low cold and flu infections is weighing on demand, particularly in North America. Trading is also affected by changes to raw material classifications that disrupt imports of some Centrum multivitamins into China.

Haleon maintains its adjusted operating profit outlook for the year. The company had already pointed to a weak cold and flu season in its 2025 full-year results in February, when it reported 3 per cent organic revenue growth.

Chief executive Brian McNamara says the company’s priority is to drive stronger volume growth and return the business to consistent delivery of its medium-term growth guidance.

Sector pressure deepens as shares fall

Haleon’s shares fall almost 16 per cent after the update, as investors assess whether the group can recover to its medium-term sales growth target of 4 to 6 per cent and its ambition of consistent high-single-digit operating profit growth.

Analysts at RBC Capital Markets say the market reaction is not unduly harsh and question whether Haleon can achieve those medium-term goals. They add that confidence in the outlook remains uncertain.

The warning comes days after rival Reckitt Benckiser also reports lower cold and flu infections in the third quarter across Europe and North America and cuts its annual sales guidance. Reckitt says sales of those treatments have improved in recent weeks, but also points to manufacturing issues affecting Lysol in North America and weakness in its Chinese supplements business.

Separately, Reuters reports that McNamara warns staff the company faces difficult choices over where it focuses investment in the coming months, saying not all decisions will be easy but will be necessary to build a stronger and more sustainable business.

In our earlier coverage of CTOS Digital’s cybersecurity incident, we noted that the service disruption was expected to hit the company’s financials, with estimates pointing to a RM12 million drop in net profit and a RM16 million decline in revenue if outages persisted into late October. We also highlighted that analysts warned the recovery could take longer as CTOS worked to restore normal operations and rebuild customer confidence, keeping the stock under pressure.

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