Haleon shares crater as soft flu demand hits takings

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 this target to 2.5 per cent. The Surrey-based group has warned repeatedly this year that soft cold and flu seasons are hitting sales, and its share price has shed more than 10 per cent in the year to date. Lower demand for flu medicines slowed Haleon’s sales growth in North America from 3.1 to 2.5 per cent, though higher demand for toothpaste brand Sensodyne was a bright spot in this market. Haleon, which split off from pharmaceuticals giant GSK in 2022, saw revenue dip by 0.6 per cent in Europe, owing to weak sales of Centrum, its multivitamin supplement brand, which it blamed on “weaker category trends”.  The group was forced to suspend shipments of Centrum int