Sales & Earnings In Brief

GSK on consumer division profitability: "Some of you would like us to sell" the GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare business, CEO J.P. Garnier said to analysts during a year-end earnings call for the firm Feb. 8. "Remember, if we sell it as a standalone, the consumer healthcare profit margin will drop like lead, because we will lose all the synergies that exist," he commented. "It's artificially very, very profitable .... the value of the enterprise as a standalone in my view is less than incorporating to the group, jut simply on the cost synergies." Garnier also pointed to the "benefits of Rx product switching and being passed on and being prolonged by our consumer healthcare enterprise." Sales for the consumer unit increased 9% in the fourth quarter to $1.62 bil. (£= $1.97) and 6% for the full year to $6.09 bil. OTC medicine sales grew 5% for the full year over 2005, while Oral Care saw a 6% sales increase to $1.29 bil...