If you'd invested in: Renishaw and GlaxoSmithKline
Measuring-equipment maker Renishaw has seen profits leap, but investors are sceptical about the prospects for drugmaker GSK.
If only...
Renishaw (LSE:RSW) develops and sells high-technology precision measuring and calibration equipment. Over the past 12 months, it almost doubled its market value as results continue to impress. Revenues jumped 17% to £279.5m, while adjusted pre-tax profit leapt 72% higher to £62.3m. It now expects full-year revenues to cross the £600m mark for the first time. However, the shares slipped back in January when David McMurtry the firm's founder, largest shareholder, chairman and chief executive announced he was stepping down as chief executive.
Be glad you didn't
GlaxoSmithKline (LSE:GSK) is Britain's biggest drugmaker. Last July the company said it would offload more than 130 of its non-core brands as it extended a restructuring programme meant to deliver £1bn in annual cost savings by 2020. In October, the chief executive, Emma Walmsley who took over last April announced a 4% rise in third-quarter sales to £7.8bn, helped by demand for new HIV, lung and meningitis products. Operating profit rose 31% to £1.9bn. But investors remain sceptical about the sustainability of the firm's dividend and the shares slid further.
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Alice grew up in Stockholm and studied at the University of the Arts London, where she gained a first-class BA in Journalism. She has written for several publications in Stockholm and London, and joined MoneyWeek in 2017.
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