SkyePharma pulls trading statement amid funding fears
By Lauren Mills
05 March 2006
SKYEPHARMA, the troubled UK drugs company, has pulled its trading statement ahead of this Thursdays shareholder meeting raising fresh fears about the drug companys financial health.
The trading statement was originally expected two weeks ago, then delayed until last week.
A SkyePharma spokesman said: The trading update is essentially a product update and it will be issued with the preliminary results in April. The key point is that if there was anything material that needed to be announced in a trading update then it would have been announced already to meet disclosure requirements.
Rebel shareholders, led by North Atlantic Value (NAV), are campaigning to oust Jerry Karabelas as SkyePharmas chairman and install Bob Thian, chairman of laboratory equipment firm Whatman and Southern Water, in his place. They are angry because the company has not yet disclosed the full extent of the drain on its cash resources.
The rebels claim Karabelas told them in a meeting in February that the group could face a going concern issue in June.
They allege that they were told the company could run out of cash if SkyePharma was unable to sell its Santiago-based injectables business, or if it failed to find a partner for Flutiform, its asthma treatment, or was unable to find a partner to help fund late-stage trials of DepoBupivacaine, one of its pain-relief drugs.
SkyePharma has since admitted that if the business was left in its existing form with no licensing deal or disposals and with new management imposed by NAV, then it could face a funding crisis. Theoretically that is possible, said Ken Cunningham, the groups chief operating officer.
In a statement late on Friday, Karabelas denied the drug development group was in financial trouble. There is no cash problem, he said.
Karabelas statement was not enough to allay the rebels fears about SkyePharmas financial position. In an interview with The Business, Thian gave a grim warning that the company will need to raise new cash to survive.
I would be amazed if this company did not need to raise more money from shareholders at some time not too far in the future, he said. It has some very interesting products, all of which need funding, and there is not enough money to develop them to the point of making a return.
Thian, who describes himself as a reforming chairman, said he would work full-time for SkyePharma if appointed chairman. I see it as a 90-hours-a-week job, he said.
Thian added that he was disappointed that the company had not taken the opportunity to update the City with a trading statement.
There must be no further doubt about the probity of the company and this was an opportunity to put the facts into the public domain and allay investors concerns, he said.
The rebels believe Thian has what it takes to restore SkyePharmas fortunes. They cite his success at Whatman, where he engineered a turnround that resulted in a threefold increase in the value of the companys shares. SkyePharmas board are strongly opposed to his appointment.
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