ALEX BRUMMER: Emma Walmsley’s high wire act at GSK

As a pure life sciences group, there is much more visibility for GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) drug pipeline. As strong as it performed last year, the market is still not convinced about the future.

No one questions GSK’s strengths in developing vaccines, HIV treatments and respiratory treatments. Despite some strategic acquisitions, it still lacks strength in oncology.

Nothing is likely to startle GSK more than comparisons to its UK competitor AstraZeneca.

Still, GSK’s market valuation of a relatively modest £58.4bn compares unfavorably with £159bn for Astra, which is doing well in immunological treatments for cancer.

Despite the interventions of activists, CEO Emma Walmsley kept up the pace of change and completed a complex split that saw Haleon, the maker of Sensodyne, and Panadol, the consumer health care arm, go public as a separate company.

That may have temporarily silenced critics, but as a relatively small life sciences company, one can’t help feeling that GSK is vulnerable in an industry where Covid vaccines have proven to be a license to print money.

The concern is that this vital part of Britain’s science and R&D infrastructure could fall into unfriendly hands.

What cannot be disputed is that recent achievements have been impressive. Shingles vaccine Shingrix is ​​a big winner, with sales of £3 billion in 2022.

It has benefited from pent-up demand, which has built up during the pandemic. The great hope for the future is progress in curing the respiratory RSV virus. Pneumonia has long been the bane of the elderly.

Most of us will have friends and relatives who have suffered from respiratory infections and worse, with fatal consequences this winter.

Being smaller than competitors allows GSK to grow faster. Walmsley has set some demanding sales targets of more than 5 percent per year through 2026.

It’s easy to dismiss such ambition, but if it spurs effort to take the breathing space where it has an edge, no one will complain.

There is also potential for oncology pioneer Tesaro, bought in 2019, to pay off. Getting treatments from the lab to market through regulatory approvals is a tedious process. Investors must show patience.

Absent

The chairman of the Commons Treasury committee, Harriett Baldwin, is not one to be trifled with.

Last month, she went to war with the International Monetary Fund over its refusal to witness its investigation into the market collapse caused by Trussonomics.

Her commission is now being rejected by NatWest chief Alison Rose, who has refused to appear at a hearing.

Major banks are expected to be rightly reprimanded for not passing on at least some of the benefits of higher interest rates. Rose says she’s “too busy.”

The proposed date of testimony would be around the time of NatWest’s annual results. Preparation time for presentations is considerable and her reluctance to interrupt work before one of the most important days of the financial year is understandable.

Still, Rose has a special responsibility to Parliament, as 46% of the bank’s shares are still technically controlled by the taxpayer.

Rose has sought to demonstrate genuine social responsibility. Among other things, she has converted Fred Goodwin’s vanity headquarters in Gogarburn into a food bank and shelter for Ukrainian refugees.

As real incomes have come under pressure, she has focused on helping clients who are struggling. Rose may have personal reasons for not attending.

It’s more likely that she may not have liked the thought of a Star Chamber on television.

NatWest and its peers have had a profitable year. But it was also a period of branch closures, increasing interest margins at the expense of customers and large dividend payments.

All too difficult.

Dark side

Under-FIRE cybersecurity specialist Darktrace has defended itself against allegations of corporate deception.

It dismisses the claims, saying they predate the London IPO, explaining that controls have been put in place.

All the details are on his website. That’s fine, except the link on the website didn’t work for much of the day.

Not really a message that will have inspired customers or investors.