{
  "id": 17040020,
  "title": "Haleon shares crater as soft flu demand hits takings",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/29/haleon-shares-crater-as-soft-flu-demand-hits-takings",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-10-29T09:00:09.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "City AM",
    "slug": "city-am",
    "url": "https://www.cityam.com/haleon-shares-crater-as-soft-flu-demand-hits-takings/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Shares in Haleon, the consumer healthcare company, experienced a significant drop following a decline in demand for cough, cold, and flu medicines, prompting the company to reduce its revenue target. The FTSE 100 firm initially anticipated a three to five percent revenue growth but later revised this forecast to 2.5 percent. Based in Surrey, Haleon has frequently cautioned investors about weak cold and flu seasons impacting sales, resulting in a loss of more than 11 percent in early trading at 333p. The company's share price has plummeted over 10 percent so far this year. Haleon's sales growth in North America slowed from 3.1 to 2.5 percent due to reduced flu medicine demand, although toothpaste brand Sensodyne saw higher demand. However, revenue fell by 0.6 percent in Europe, primarily due to sluggish Centrum multivitamin supplement sales, which were attributed to weaker category trends. Haleon had to halt Centrum shipments into China after regulatory changes affected over-the-counter vitamin imports. While sales in Southeast Asia and Taiwan grew by single digits, the company attributed this to a softer consumer environment caused by the Middle East conflict. Haleon's CEO, Brian McNamara, acknowledged that the company's third-quarter organic revenue growth of 2.6 percent fell short of expectations due to softness in various categories, including cough, cold, and flu consumption. Analyst James Edwardes Jones from RBC broker noted that while Haleon maintained its profit guidance, the reduction in revenue guidance was worse. He highlighted that consumer health firms, including Haleon, are facing unenviable positions compared to their peers, citing Reckitt's recent profit guidance downgrade due to Lysol production issues in the US. Reckitt's shares have dropped more than 15 percent year to date, although they have risen over one percent in early trading.",
  "summary": "Shares in Haleon slumped after soft demand for cough, cold and flu medicines forced the consumer healthcare giant to cut its revenue target. The FTSE 100 firm lost more than 11 per cent in early trading, to 333p. Haleon had been expecting revenue growth of between three and five per cent but on Thursday trimmed [...]",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}