Panadol Maker Haleon Reports Revenue Slowdown Amid Weak Cold-And-Flu Season

By Adria Calatayud

Panadol maker Haleon posted a top-line slowdown for the fourth quarter, hit by headwinds from a from a weak cold-and-flu season, but projected growth for the year ahead.

The U.K. company behind drugstore staples such as Sensodyne toothpaste, Advil tablets and Centrum vitamins said Wednesday that organic revenue growth was 2.1% in the fourth quarter, slowing from a 3.4% rise the prior quarter.

For the year as a whole, Haleon said revenue grew 3% organically and totaled 11.03 billion pounds, equivalent to $14.88 billion. Analysts had expected 11.03 billion pounds in revenue and organic growth of 3.4%.

The company said a weak cold-and-flu season resulted in an estimated hit of around 1.5 percentage points to its top line in the fourth quarter and of 0.4 percentage point for the full year.

For 2026, Haleon forecast organic revenue growth to range from 3% to 5%, with an increase in adjusted operating profit of a high-single percentage digit when excluding currency movements.

Adjusted operating profit, which strips out exceptional and one-off items, rose 1% to 2.53 billion pounds for 2025, with a margin that expanded to 22.9% from 22.3%. Analysts had expected 2.46 billion pounds and a margin of 22.3%.

Pretax profit rose to 2.15 billion pounds from 1.91 billion pounds.

The company said it allocated 500 million pounds to stock buybacks this year, and a final dividend of 4.9 pence a share led to a 7.6% increase in total payouts for 2025.

Write to Adria Calatayud at adria.calatayud@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 25, 2026 02:55 ET (07:55 GMT)