For the second time now.......any thoughts?
INTERVIEW-Astra sees scope for acquisitions
STOCKHOLM, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Swedish drugs group Astra (ASTRa.ST) said on Wednesday its lower sales growth rate
of 15 percent opened up opportunities for making acquisitions.
''When we were growing at 30 percent it would have been wrong to carry out large acquisitions. But today, growth is about
half of that, and so you can spice things up a bit with strategic changes or corporate acquisitions,'' Astra CEO Hakan Mogren
told Reuters in an interview.
Mogren said he would not rule out the company initiating a large purchase during the year.
"We can not rule out anything," he said.
A strong balance sheet meant the company had a certain degree of freedom regarding financing future investments, Mogren
said.
''There is an enormous spectrum. Today we have an internal financing ratio of 74 percent and we can consider going down to
30 percent for example,'' Mogren said.
''Finances would not be the limiting factor, but what is considered achieveable.''
He stopped short of giving more details about what projects the company was evaluating.
''You must respect the fact that it would be tragic if a plan was wrecked because it was leaked to the market or to the
affected parties,'' Morgen said.
About merger fever in the drug sector globally, Mogren said ''it would be tragic if the view was that everyone had to merge
for the sake of merging.
''At the same time, it would be correct for certain companies to merge, as it would be incorrect for other companies not to
merge. Each deal must be considered individually.''
Asked if a project included U.S. licensing partner Merck (MRK - news), Mogren said: ''I can not comment on that.''
Mogren also said the pace of increase of marketing costs in the U.S. would decline.
He also said Astra-Merck and its own wholly owned U.S. subsidiary Astra Inc had built up a large sales force.
"We have now built up the marketing organisation which we |
