Elan CEO: No cases of impropriety
Shares are down 95 percent year-to-date
By Emily Church, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 12:02 PM ET Aug. 19, 2002
LONDON (CBS.MW) - The chairman of Irish drug maker Elan said Monday the company's own investigation hasn't uncovered any improprieties in its accounting.
Elan's (ELN: news, chart, profile) accounts are being probed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
"Our efforts so far ... have indicated no cases of impropriety. Unfortunately we have been put in with companies where there has been blatant cases of impropriety," Garo Armen said at the drug maker's annual shareholders meeting, according to the Irish website Business & Finance.
"We have cooperated with the SEC to the full extent. We can hope reach a resolution but we have no control over it. But in all our deliberations we have discovered nothing to dissuade us from this hope," he said.
The meeting was attended by about 30 investors, the report said. Elan's share price has dropped 95 percent since the start of the year amid concerns over its accounting practices.
On July 31, Elan (UK:ELA: news, chart, profile) said it planned to cut around 1,000 jobs, or 21 percent of its workforce, as it pulls back on a breadth of businesses to focus on neurology, pain and autoimmune diseases.
The drug maker also reaffirmed its plans to raise $1 billion over the next nine months from selling assets, and said it expected a further $500 million by the end of 2003. See more on Elan's restructuring plans
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