Glaxo gives £338m to charity

DRUGS giant GlaxoSmithKline gave £338m - more than 5% of its pre-tax profits - to charity last year, according to a release ahead of today's annual report.

The firm contributed to a wide range of projects, including free medicines for Iraq, tablets to fight elephantiasis in Africa and assistance schemes for uninsured Americans.

The disclosure will be seen as an effort to defuse criticism of corporate pay at Glaxo, which suffered a humiliating shareholder revolt last year over chief executive Jean-Pierre Garnier's remuneration.

In common with the rest of the pharmaceuticals industry, Glaxo has also been criticised for apparent disregard of humanitarian issues and has been forced to slash drug prices in poor countries.

The company's expenditure on so-called 'corporate responsibility programmes' was up 41% on the previous year's £239m - already the highest charitable contribution by a FTSE 100 company.

Shareholders reading today's annual report are more likely to focus on its generosity to its own executives.

The report is the first since Glaxo revised Garnier's pay, scrapping his two-year contract and a severance deal potentially worth £22m.

Most scrutiny, however, could fall on GSK's former chairman Sir Richard Sykes.

The report will detail the £941,000 he received for not cashing in share options following the merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham in 2000.