Almost exactly one year after GSK’s consumer healthcare business spun out on its own as Haleon, the company is reportedly looking to save costs with sweeping layoffs across the board.
Hundreds of jobs in the U.K. and potentially thousands worldwide are on the chopping block, The Guardian reports. Currently, Haleon’s U.K. head count totals approximately 1,700, and its global workforce is made up of around 24,000 employees (PDF) across 170 countries.
Staffers were informed of the cuts through a series of meetings this week, according to the British newspaper. A consultation process began Wednesday and will run through Aug. 25, after which some employees will be offered other roles at the company and others will split in September, according to The Guardian.
"Any decisions that involve colleagues are not taken lightly, and as we enter a process of consultation in relevant markets, we are fully committed to supporting colleagues that may be impacted," a Haleon spokesperson told Fierce Pharma over email.
The move is chalked up to Haleon’s larger cost-cutting program as the company looks to become a “more agile, productive and efficient organization” and to save 300 million pounds sterling ($393 million) over the next three years, the company revealed in a March filing.
Haleon launched on the London stock market last July with around 10.3 billion pounds of debt on its back, U.K. finance website This is Money reported at the time, citing figures from analysts at Barclays and Jefferies. Since then, Haleon made a name for itself with customers, landing the No. 1 spot on Caliber’s 2022 survey ranking the most respected pharma companies.
Meanwhile, Haleon’s former parent company, GSK, recently divulged its plans to sell 240 million shares, or a 2.5% stake, to institutional investors at an undisclosed price. It’s a sale that’s worth 823 million pounds ($1 billion), according to Bloomberg. The drugmaker held onto 12.94% stake in the company after its demerger. The Big Pharma company had said before the official separation that it will monetize its holding in Haleon over time.
Pfizer has a 32% stake in the company after merging its consumer health business with GSK’s in 2019 and plans to let go of its holdings because “it’s just not strategic,” Chief Financial Officer Dave Denton told the Financial Times in May.
The Centrum maker pulled down 2.98 billion pounds ($3.91 billion) during this year’s first quarter after bringing in a 2022 haul of 10.85 billion pounds ($14.25 billion).