The merger between Glaxo Welcome and SmithKline Beecham to form GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK) at the end of 2000 was supposed to herald great things for the British pharmaceutical pairing. But it has been anything but. And investors who remained loyal since the merger may want to consider taking a couple of tranquillisers to calm their nerves
For instance, since 27 December 2000 when the two British drug makers united, shares in the world’s second biggest pharma have gone into reverse. When the two companies first merged they boasted a market value of about £117b. Today the business is worth £88b. And even regular dividends have not helped to ease the pain. The total return on the shares, which includes dividends, is an appalling minus 9%. What’s more, it has underperformed the UK market, which has delivered a total return of plus 26% over the same period….
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