Ypsomed reduces sales and profit forecasts and appoints new CEO
18 October 2006
Burgdorf, 14th September 2006, 7:30 a.m. – Ypsomed today has to issue an ad-hoc information due to lower than expected orders for insulin pen systems. Therefore sales and profitability for the business year 2006/07 will be lower than forecasted so far. At the same time Ypsomed announced the change of the CEO. The board of directors of Ypsomed has decided to nominate as of today Richard Fritschi, former president Europe and Australasia of Zimmer/Centerpulse, as the new CEO of the Ypsomed group.
Sales and profit will be lower than expected
Ypsomed today has to publish an ad-hoc information due to higher costs related to the temporary production stop and due to order volumes for insulin pens, which sanofi-aventis reduced compared to their forecasts at the beginning of the financial year 2006/07. The main reason stated by sanofi-aventis for this shortfall is a weaker demand, especially for the OptiClik® pen in the US market and delays in the launch of the OptiClik® pen in certain European countries. The temporary production stop of the OptiClik® pen resulted in higher additional costs in the first half year. Together with the lower than expected order forecast for the second half year this leads to significantly reduced sales in the core business and overall lower profitability for the business year 2006/07. Ypsomed will communicate more details at the presentation of the semi-annual results on 9th November 2006.
Richard Fritschi appointed as new CEO of the Ypsomed group
Based on recent incidents the board of directors of Ypsomed took the decision to appoint a new CEO. As of today Richard Fritschi is the new CEO of the Ypsomed group. Willy Michel, Chairman of the board of directors, comments the decision as follows: “Richard Fritschi has over 15 years of medtech experience in executive positions and successfully managed in the past several take-overs, integration and change management projects. He brings to Ypsomed proven international leadership experience to effectively tackle the current challenges.” Richard Fritschi was president Europe and Australasia for Zimmer and responsible for sales of CHF 1.3 billion and 2,000 employees until December 2005.
Richard Fritschi started his career at with Sulzer in 1991 as Vice President Finance and Controlling at Allo Pro AG. In 1998 he was promoted to General Manager Global Sales with the responsibility for all international sales of Sulzer Orthopedics. From 2001 on he served as President for Europe, Asia and Latin America within SulzerMedica/Centerpulse.
The board of directors expresses gratitude with Matthew Robin’s achievements to successfully grow the injection business over the last 8 years and wishes him all the best for the future.
Further information is available from Daniel Kusio, Head of Investor and Public Relations at Ypsomed Holding AG.
Tel. +41 34 424 41 43 or Tel +41 34 424 41 11. This press release and further documents are available in electronic form at www.ypsomed.com.
Information about the telephone conference in English
A telephone conference in English will held today on 14th September 2006 at 3:00pm (MEZ). Chairman Willy Michel, the new CEO Richard Fritschi and Head of Investor Relations Daniel Kusio will be available for questions. Please dial in about 5 minutes before the beginning of the conference call. A recording of the conference call will be available as audiodownload on our web page from noon Friday, 15th September 2006. The dial-in numbers are as follows:
Europe and ROW: +41 (0) 91 610 56 00
UK: +44 (0) 207 107 0611
USA: +1 (1) 866 291 4166
