GlaxoSmithKline Shares Drop on Q1 Disappointment

GlaxoSmithKline, the London-based pharmaceuticals and consumer goods company, reported Wednesday a 13 percent drop in first-quarter net profit compared with a year earlier, when earnings were heavily boosted by the sale of a unit. Shares in the company fell 2.4 percent at 1,422 pence as its results were weaker than anticipated. GlaxoSmithKline PLC said profit after tax was 1.325 billion pounds ($2.1 billion), down from 1.525 billion pounds a year earlier. Profit in the first quarter of 2011 was boosted by the 1.2 billion-pound sale of the company's stake in Quest, a U.S. medical lab operator, and its North American interests in Zovirax cold sore cream.