Consumer healthcare continue to perform strongly, with both GSK and Reckitt Benckiser (RB) reporting growth in the past three months.

GSK Consumer Healthcare sales were up 4 per cent to £1,277 million for the second quarter of this year, while RB reported a 9 per cent like-for-like rise in health and personal care for the same period.

In the first half of this year net revenue at RB had increased by 11 per cent like-for-like to £1,536, with Durex and Scholl together contributing £344m in that period.

"In [global] healthcare, the result was driven by very good growth for Nurofen, Mucinex and Strepsils, boosted by such new initiatives as Strepsils Warm and also benefiting from a more normal incidence of cold and flu in Q1 2011. Gaviscon was also a strong contributor," the RB report stated.

Despite the strong consumer healthcare division at GSK, overall income was hit as sales of pandemic products avandia and valtrex declined significantly, affecting the manufacturer's vaccine and pharmaceuticals division.

Sales in Europe had also struggled GSK said in its report, and blamed "price reductions enacted by governments".

"Given current economic circumstances, further pricing pressure in Europe cannot be ruled out," the company warned. GSK expects underlying sales growths to translate into sustainable growth as it moves into 2012, it added.