The shares of GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK) (NYSE: GSK.US) slipped 5p to 1,597p during early afternoon trade today after the pharmaceutical group declared a third-quarter dividend of 19p per share.
The Q3 payout was a penny up on the 18p per share declared during the first two quarters of the year and the third quarter of 2012.
The dividend update was accompanied by quarterly results that showed sales flat at £6.5bn and core operating profits up 6% to £2.1bn. Core earnings per share advanced 10% to 28.9p per share.
Glaxo claimed European sales of its pharmaceuticals and vaccines had advanced 5% during July, August and September. However, the blue chip added that sales in China plunged 61% following investigations into alleged bribery.
Sir Andrew Witty, Glaxo chief executive, said it was “still too early… to quantify the longer-term impact of the investigations.“
Sir Andrew also claimed the quarter had marked “the continued delivery of broadly based sales growth, significant new product output from the pipeline and further growth in returns to shareholders“.
He also confirmed earlier company guidance that core earnings per share would grow by 3-4% during 2013 as a whole.
Prior to today, City experts were predicting Glaxo’s 2013 results would show earnings of 115p per share and a dividend of 77.2p per share.
Following this afternoon’s price movement, the shares could therefore trade at 13.9 times possible profits and offer a potential dividend income of 4.8%.
