DRUGS firm GlaxoSmithKline has revealed it is making profits of £242 every second on the back of strong sales of its asthma drug Seretide.

The pharmaceuticals group, dogged by fat cat pay accusations from shareholders earlier this year, saw half-year profits soar 16 per cent to £3.55bn.

Its capacity for making money saw pre-tax profits of £1.88bn in the three months to June 30 alone.

The performance came despite seeing generic versions of its antibiotic Augmentin hit US sales of the drug by almost £300m during the six month period.

But its asthma drug Seretide boosted earnings with sales worth more than £1bn in the first half - an increase of 39 per cent.

Overall turnover in the first half was up one per cent at £10.6bn.

But the rise was nearer six per cent once the effects of movements in the value of the US dollar, where the group does about half of its business, were taken into account.

The strong showing prompted the group to up its own earnings guidance for the full year.

GSK, which employs about 1,100 workers at its plant in Barnard Castle, County Durham, expects its earnings per share grow by high single digits or better.

Jean-Pierre Garnier, chief executive, said: "This quarter represents another solid performance by GSK and has helped us to grow earnings per share by 20 per cent in the first half of the year.

"This was a great achievement for GSK especially given the loss of £300m of US Augmentin sales in the same period."

The group said it hoped to receive approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for the impotence drug Levitra, which has already received approval on this side of the Atlantic, in the second half.

Glaxo made corporate history in May when shareholders, angry at a lucrative "golden parachute" deal for Dr Garnier, voted down the company's remuneration report.

While a string of top companies, including Barclays, Tesco and WPP have also suffered sizeable shareholder revolts this year, Glaxo is thought to be the only company to have actually lost such a vote.

Although the votes are only advisory, the company said it was taking the revolt seriously and promised to take shareholders' views into account in a review of its remuneration policy.