Haleon shares slide after targets cut due to weak cold and flu demand

Consumer healthcare firm Haleon has cut its sales targets for the year after being knocked by weaker demand for cold and flu medicine.Shares in the Panadol and Sensodyne owner slumped in early trading as it also highlighted an impact from import changes in China.The FTSE 100 company said revenues grew by 2.5% to £2.87 billion for the three months to September 30, compared with the same period last year.Haleon said it is therefore on track to deliver sales growth of around 2.5% for 2026 as a whole.This represents a downgrade on earlier projections, having previously guided towards growth of between 3% and 5%.The company, which separated from drugs giant GSK in 2022, said its most recent sales growth was primarily driven by higher pricing, with sales volumes up 0.5%.It said “soft” demand for cold and flu medicine resulted in lower orders in North America in the quarter.The region nevertheless saw 1.5% revenues growth, or 2.5% on an organic basis, amid stronger sales of Sensodyne and Centrum products.However, sales in Europe fell by 0.9% to £798 million, which the group linked to “challenging” trading conditions, particularly in Germany and central and eastern Europe.Toothpaste products continued to support growth, with Haleon’s oral health category reported 8.8% organic growth for the quarter.Brian McNamara, Haleon chief executive, 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.Read More“We are clear on where we need to improve and we are taking action to deliver stronger performance despite challenging markets.”