GSK weighing scrapping investor payout to boost dividend instead

Analysts are suggesting that GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK) is thinking hard about scrapping a plan to reward investors by paying them about £4 billion and instead use money from its deals with Novartis ($NVS) to prop up its dividend, Reuters reports. Last year the British drugmaker said that when it finished up the asset swaps with Novartis it would use a B share disbursement to pay them about £4 billion of the proceeds. But with its 5% dividend under pressure, analysts at Goldman Sachs and Berenberg Bank think that plan has "stalled" and it might use the money to provide confidence in its shares. Story