GSK Nigeria to close operations over declined sales

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Nigeria has announced plans to stop doing business in the country after evaluating the options for moving to a third-party distribution model for its drugs and consumer healthcare goods.

GSK Nigeria, which has faced increased competition from local companies and imports from India and China, on Thursday, August 3, 2023, said its half-year sales had dropped to N7.75 billion ($9.82 million), from N14.8 billion in the same period a year ago.

Its British parent company GSK, which has been in Nigeria since 1971, said in 2018 that it would cut back its operations in Africa and adopt a distributor-led model instead of marketing medicines in 29 sub-Saharan African markets.

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The company said it is working with advisers to agree next steps and plans to submit a scheme of arrangement to Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission, which if approved will see it return cash to shareholders except its parent GSK.

It also said the Haleon Group has informed it of plans to terminate a distribution agreement and to appoint a third-party distributor in Nigeria, which faces a cost of living crisis, rising business costs and a shrinking consumer base.

“For the above reasons, and having, together with GSK UK, evaluated various other options, the Board of GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria Plc has concluded that there is no alternative but to cease operations,” the company said in a statement.

Shares in GSK Nigeria, in which British drugmaker GSK has a 46.4 per cent stake and Nigerian shareholders the remaining 53.6 per cent, closed at N8.10, down from a peak of N42.24 in 2014.

The Star