Haleon plc (LON:HLN) has announced its Q3 trading statement for the year ending 31 December 2026
Q3 organic revenue growth of +2.6%
- Group: Organic revenue growth2 of +2.6% with +2.1% price and +0.5% volume/mix
- Continued strength in Oral Health, up +8.8% underpinned by innovation
- Q3 performance held back by soft cold and flu consumption leading to lower orders in North America,
- and a raw material classification change for Centrum OTC products in China (see note on page 2)
- North America: +2.5% as encouraging progress and strong US execution in Sensodyne and Centrum driving consumption growing double digit
- Emerging Markets3: +5.1% led by high-teens growth in India underpinned by strong Sensodyne growth,
- continued e-comm momentum in China and sequential improvement across MEA
Disciplined capital allocation underpinning shareholder returns
- Leverage: Strong delivery of adjusted operating profit and cash generation driving de-leveraging
- Share buyback: Further £500m allocated to share buybacks4 to complete by FY results in Feb. ‘27
FY 2026 guidance
- Organic revenue growth: Now expected to be around 2.5%
- Adjusted operating profit: Continue to expect high-single digit growth at constant currency
Brian McNamara, Haleon Chief Executive Officer, said:
“Our third quarter organic revenue growth of 2.6% was below our expectations as we navigated softness
across some of our categories including weaker cough, cold and flu consumption. We delivered strong
performances in Oral Health and our turnaround plan in North America continues to make progress. We are
clear on where we need to improve and we are taking action to deliver stronger performance despite
challenging markets.High gross margin and continued progress on supply chain productivity provide us with a uniquely strong
platform to invest behind our brands and capabilities while delivering strong growth in profit and cash. This
also enables us to continue returning surplus capital to shareholders, and today we are announcing a further
£500m allocation to share buybacks.Our key priority is to drive stronger volume growth and return the business to consistent delivery of our
medium-term growth guidance.”
