Pharmaceuticals giant GSK has said it is “unequivocally” committed to its London listing in a soothing sign for the City after a flood of exits from the market this year.
Speaking to the Times CEO summit, GSK’s chief executive Emma Walmsley said there was “not a debate” over where the FTSE 100 firm was listed despite the company making only a fraction of its cash in the UK.
“We spend more than £1bn on research and development [per year] in this country. We have nine sites. We’ve got factories from Montrose to Worthing. We have 11,000 people and we have 300 apprentices every single year,” Walmsley told a room of delagates including the boss of the London Stock Exchange Group, David Schwimmer.
“We’re just about to open, next month, our new global headquarters in central London because this can be a great magnet and attraction for talent,” she added.
The comments will be a boon to the market after more than £100bn has been ripped off the exchange this year through takeovers or exits.
A wave of top firms have come under offer, with Hargreaves Lansdown the latest company set to leave after a £5.4bn bid from private equity this week.
Backing from GSK comes after Walmsley spun off and listed the company’s consumer goods arm as Haleon in 2022, in what was London’s biggest IPO in years.
The comments come after a bruising few weeks in which GSK has seen more than eight per cent wiped from its near $70bn valuation due to concerns over its exposure to a court case in the US.
GSK’s heartburn drug Zantac is the source of some 70,000 complaints from litigant customers, who claim their cancer diagnoses originate from an exposure from a carcinogen in the medication. The firm is appealing the decision by a Delaware court to accept evidence in the case.