Haleon, spun off from GSK, debuts on the London Stock Exchange

by Natalie Grover and Lucy Raitano

LONDON (Reuters) – Consumer health care company Haleon, spun off from Britain’s GSK, floated on the London Stock Exchange on Monday in Europe’s biggest IPO in more than a decade.

Haleon – which owns Sensodyne toothpaste, Advil painkiller and Nicorette tobacco addiction treatment products – opened at 330 pence, reaching a market capitalization of around £30.5 billion (36 billion euros).

GSK, whose action takes 0.50%, is now refocusing on its activities of prescription drugs and the production of vaccines.

After raking in nearly £9.6 billion in 2021, Haleon is expected to post revenue of £10.7 billion this year, according to Barclays analysts.

In June, GSK forecast Haleon’s annual organic sales growth of 4% to 6% over the next three to five years, an estimate that beat some analysts’ expectations.

But the company enters the stock market with more than £10 billion in debt.

Pfizer, which owns a 32% stake in Haleon, has announced that it intends to gradually sell its shares.

(Reporting Natalie Grover and Lucy Raitano in London; with Richa Naidu, French version Laetitia Volga, editing by Kate Entringer)