London, June 24, 2026, 11:11 BST
Haleon traded at 341 pence, gaining 2.2%, in delayed action in London around 9:08 a.m. BST. The FTSE 100 showed little movement later in the morning.
The Sensodyne maker bought 14.29 million shares to cancel them, according to a June 22 filing. The buyback ran from June 16 to June 18. Venue-level data shows the group spent about 47.5 million pounds with an average price of 332.4 pence, around 2.6% under the latest price.
Haleon spent 9.5% of its 500 million-pound 2026 buyback budget last week. At 341 pence, the company could buy around 147 million shares with the full allocation, equal to 1.7% of outstanding voting stock if the price stays flat.
Haleon’s share denominator dropped. The company had 8.908 billion voting shares as of February 28, but that fell to 8.816 billion after the most recent buybacks cleared. That’s a cut of 92.5 million shares, or 1.04%. If profit stays the same, the lower share count would boost earnings per share by about 1%, but reported EPS will use the weighted average over the period.
Operating numbers look mixed. First-quarter organic revenue rose 2.2%. Price was up 2.4%, volume slipped 0.2%. Oral-health sales gained 8.3%. Respiratory health dropped 3.4% after a slow cold-and-flu season trimmed group growth by about 130 basis points, or 1.3 percentage points.
Haleon says organic revenue should climb 3% to 5% this year, a touch under its usual 4% to 6% mid-term goal. The company is sticking with its outlook for adjusted operating profit growth in the high single digits at constant currencies. “We feel confident the U.S. will grow this year,” CEO Brian McNamara told Reuters in February. Reuters
The question now is if growth moves outside oral care. “Haleon isn’t a million miles away from being a very good story, but it needs more than the toothpaste business to start performing,” Quilter analyst Chris Beckett said. Rival Reckitt is also seeing pressure from weak cold-and-flu demand. Reuters
Haleon’s planned 500 million-pound buyback is about 26% of its expected 2025 free cash flow of 1.9 billion pounds, but that won’t solve soft demand for its products. Net debt was 7.2 billion pounds. If U.S. sales stay slow, further capital returns could mean less progress on paying down debt or less cash for investment.
Haleon’s first-half numbers land July 30. Investors are watching for signs of faster North American growth and a move back to positive group volume.
