GSK shares rally as chief Emma Walmsley to exit after eight years
The chief executive of pharmaceutical giant GSK has announced plans to step down from the company at the end of the year.
Emma Walmsley, who took the helm of the drugmaker in 2017, will be replaced by chief commercial officer Luke Miels.
Miels – the former Executive Vice President of Astrazeneca – also joined the business in 2017.
Shares in GSK jumped 3.4 per cent on the news to 1,536.50.
Walmsley’s departure comes after her overhaul on the drugmarker, where she narrowed priorities for drug development and set a target of allocating 80 per cent of pharma research and development capital to a maximum of four diease areas.
In 2023, Walsmley – the first woman to run a major pharma firm – pocketed $16m in pay, a 51 per cent jump from her 2022 package making her the second highest paid European pharma chief.
Shareholders this year voted for her package to jump to £21.6m.
Miels’ pay package will be worth around £1.4m.
GSK chief bids farewell after tumultuous era
Sir Jonathan Symonds, the chair of GSK, praised Miels’ “outstanding global biopharma development and commercial experience”.
He also passed thanks to Walmsley for “outstanding leadership”.
“GSK is today necessarily very different to the company she was appointed to nine years ago and has a bright and ambitious future”.
The firm’s stock has had a volatile year, thanks in part to President Donald Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs that sent shares to a low of 1,264.00.
GSK shares are up over one per cent in the last 12 months and over 12 per cent for the year-to-date.
Neil Wilson, UK investor strategist at Saxo, said: “Walmsley copped flak for years, but the stock has traded sideways for two decades and things have been improving.
“The business looks well positioned after some notable progress in the year or so, particularly the spin-off of Haleon and strong cancer drug sales. Tariff uncertainty should start clearing, too. Seems like both GSK and AstraZeneca are laying down some long-term markers for the future.”