Drug giant GlaxoSmithKline, hurt in part by a 20 percent decline in sales in China where the company is under criminal investigation, reports revenues and earnings that missed analysts’ expectations on Wednesday.

GSK also reduced its growth forecast for 2014 from as much as 8 percent to “basically similar” to 2013.

Earnings declined 25 percent from a year ago to 31 cents per share, well under analysts’ expectations of 36 cents.

Revenue came in at $9.48 billion, down from an expected $9.82 billion and down 16 percent from the total of a year ago.

  • CEO’s optimistic view: In a video interview, GSK CEO Andrew Witty says the company is making “significant” progress despite worse-than-expected quarterly financial results.

A summary of GSK’s earnings (in pounds) from financial news site SeekingAplha shows how wide-spread GSK’s sales decline was:

  • Total Revenues: 5,561M (-16.0%)
  • Pharmaceuticals: 3,773M (-16.6%)
  • Vaccines: 766M (-2.5%)
  • Consumer Healthcare: 1,022M (-21.9%)
  • Seretide/Advair: 1,095M (-19.4%)
  • COGS: 1,722M (-12.7%)
  • Royalty Income: 72M (-12.2%)

GSK (NYSE: GSK) shares fell immediately some 5 percent.

The company, which operates its North American headquarters in RTP and employs thousands of people in the Triangle area, reported that sales in China fell 20 percent.

GSK CEO Andrew Witty said the company remained committed to doing business in China there despite ongoing legal concerns, according to CNBC.

In a statement, GSK said it was continuing to cooperate with legal authorities related to the China investigation and said it could not make a “reliable estimate” on what the financial impact could be.

“The People’s Republic of China (PRC), acting through various government agencies, continues its investigation into alleged crimes and violations of law by GSK’s China operations. The Group takes these allegations seriously and is continuing to co-operate fully with the Chinese authorities in this investigation. The Group has informed the US Department of Justice, the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) regarding the investigation and is co-operating fully with these agencies.

“On 27 May 2014, the SFO informed the Group that it had opened a criminal investigation into the Group’s commercial practices.

“It is not possible at this time to make a reliable estimate of the financial effect, if any, that could result from these matters.”

The full earnings report can be read online.