Adcock Ingram: Failed CFR takeover dents results

Adcock Ingram posted a first-half loss as it wrote off expenses related to a failed takeover attempt by CFR Pharmaceuticals and margins remained under pressure. The loss of R37.9 million in the six months to the end of March compared with a restated profit of R323.4m a year earlier, the company said yesterday. Sales climbed 3.4 percent to R2.42 billion. “These results are not what we want them to be and a change is necessary in the way in which we operate,” chief executive Kevin Wakeford said. “It is because of this that we have in the last month spent a lot of time developing plans to reorganise our business.” The board had approved changes creating separate operating units, starting July 1, that would allow better management of returns and more flexibility in the market, he said. The “drawn out and exacting” CFR bid “preoccupied certain key management and they, together with the board of directors, became embroiled by the demands of these events and actions”, the company said. CFR called off its R12.8bn cash and stock offer to buy Adcock on February 7 after Bidvest built up a blocking stake. Shares fell as much as 4.61 percent yesterday, the biggest intraday drop in almost four months, and closed 2.09 percent down at R58. – Bloomberg