Haleon has announced it is set to close its Maidenhead site, resulting in around 435 jobs being lost.

The maker of Sensodyne toothpaste said the closing of the site will result in a "more competitive business", which is expected to result in a total restructuring cost of around £90m between the 2024 and 2026 financial years.

The move follows on from Haleon’s focus on reducing its debt, after separating from drugmaker, GSK in 2022.

Haleon’s latest announcement also comes alongside the firm’s financial report for the first three months of the year, which saw reported revenue decrease by 2.2% to £2.2bn, while organic revenue increased by 3%.

Chief executive officer at Haleon, Brian McNamara, said: "First quarter trading was solid and in line with guidance shared when we reported FY 2023 results. Organic revenue growth of 3.0% was impacted by lapping tough comparatives in the prior year particularly in respiratory health and pain relief.

"Despite this, strong innovation combined with successful execution of our go-to-market strategy underpinned performance in our power brands which grew 5.2% with particularly strong performance in our oral health and VMS portfolio. Regionally, whilst growth was held back in the US from inventory adjustments by some retailers, Haleon’s consumption in this region was strong, up mid-single digit and ahead of the market. As such, we remain confident of delivering on our FY guidance."

In the firm’s guidance, it revealed that it expects organic revenue growth of between 4-6%, while there is positive operating leverage to deliver organic operating profit growth ahead of organic revenue growth.

This comes after the disposals of Lamisil and ChapStick, which are expected to dilute revenue and adjusted operating profit by around 1% and 3%, respectively.

Haleon added that during the quarter, the firm purchased £102m ordinary shares for around £315m in connection with Pfizer’s global offering as part of the £500m allocation to share buybacks, which it expects to complete in 2024.

Head of equity funds at Hargreaves Lansdown, Steve Clayton, added: "The rest of the year gets easier on paper, as the comparatives improve for Haleon. The group will also benefit from ongoing deleveraging as the group uses its robust cash flow to pay down the debts that parents Pfizer and GSK left with Haleon at the time of demerger. This combination of operating margin leverage, plus financial de-leverage, should drive earnings well ahead of Haleon’s underlying revenue growth for some years to come."

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