CEO is under pressure to improve GSK’s performance after profit slump and arrival of activist shareholder
GlaxoSmithKline’s chief executive, Emma Walmsley, has vowed to lead the company through next year’s corporate split and beyond, and to keep research spending high, as she came under mounting pressure to improve the drugmaker’s performance after a decline in profits and the arrival of the activist shareholder Elliott.
GSK’s first quarter revenues slid 18% to £7.4bn between January and March compared with the year-earlier period, while pretax profits dropped 17% to £1.5bn, but Walmsley said the “supertanker” company’s performance would improve in the second half of the year.
