Glaxo CEO Walmsley Buys Time as Strategy Gets Modest Backing
- Company outlines overhaul amid share underperformance
- Pharma giant forecasts more than 5% annual sales growth
The headquarter offices of Glaxosmithkline Plc in London.
Photographer: Luke MacGregor/BloombergEmma Walmsley made the case for her leadership of GlaxoSmithKline Plc following a lukewarm reaction to long-awaited plans to restructure the pharmaceutical giant after years of underperformance.
With a potential activist investor challenge looming from Elliott Management Corp., Walmsley on Wednesday laid out why she thinks she is the right “change agent” to run the pharmaceutical business that will be left once Glaxo finally carves out its consumer arm via a de-merger.
Glaxo shares ended the day up only 1% in London, with investors requiring faith that the company will be able to follow through on its drug development pipeline, which has languished behind peers such as AstraZeneca Plc. They were little changed in early trading Thursday.
“I am very aware that GSK shares have underperformed for a long period,” Walmsley said Wednesday on a call with reporters. During a later investor day presentation, she said Glaxo has “undertaken an enormous amount of work to fix longstanding issues across the company, which have been a direct cause of historic underperformance and negative impact to total shareholder return.”