Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Biotech / Medical : Monsanto Co. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dan Spillane who wrote (1544)	3/10/1999 10:46:00 AM
From: jopawa	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2539

Wednesday March 10, 9:00 am Eastern Time Company Press Release SOURCE: DuPont DuPont Takes Steps to Execute Life Sciences Strategy WILMINGTON, Del., March 10 /PRNewswire/ -- DuPont (NYSE: DD - news) today announced two strategic efforts to aggressively and rapidly build its life sciences portfolio. First, the company said that it is actively seeking alliances with other strong partners in the pharmaceuticals industry. ''Our goal is to bring our already solid DuPont Pharmaceuticals to critical mass through strategic alliances,'' said Charles O. Holliday Jr., DuPont chairman and CEO. ''Given the success of our discussions to date, we expect to be able to conclude one or more of these alliances by the end of this year.'' Additionally, the company said its board has authorized actions toward the creation and issuance of a ''tracking'' stock for its life sciences businesses to give DuPont the financial flexibility to more advantageously participate in industry consolidation trends and expand the portfolio without undue dilution to earnings. Such action would require shareholder approval. The company anticipates that the earliest it could file a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the stock would be in late 1999, then requesting shareholder approval in the following quarter. Tracking stock -- sometimes called targeted or letter stock -- is a useful financial tool to companies with distinct businesses that are valued differently by investors. The two classes of common stock would offer investors two investment options in DuPont, while the company would remain unified in its technology and management. Tax consequences of the strategy are currently a subject of legislative debate as part of the Clinton Administration's fiscal 2000 budget. ''Our governing objective is to increase shareholder value,'' Holliday said. ''Growth toward critical mass in our life sciences portfolio is an imperative. Today's announcement is further evidence of our commitment to transform DuPont into a faster growing, more profitable and less cyclical company.'' DuPont's life sciences portfolio includes DuPont Pharmaceuticals, Crop Protection Products and the recently formed Nutrition & Health business. Nutrition & Health includes Protein Technologies International, Qualicon Inc., the alliances with Pioneer Hi-Bred International, and the company's biotechnology research and development efforts focused on agriculture, food and nutrition. Sales in 1998 for DuPont life sciences businesses totaled $4.3 billion, including the pro-rata share of equity affiliate sales. After-tax operating income reached $515 million, excluding nonrecurring charges of $926 million principally related to the write-off of purchased in-process research and development. Founded in 1802, DuPont is a global science and technology-based company. DuPont serves worldwide markets including food and nutrition, health care; agriculture, fashion and apparel; home and construction; electronics; and transportation. The company operates in more than 70 countries and has 92,000 employees. Forward-Looking Statements: This news release contains forward-looking statements based on management's current expectations, estimates and projections. All statements that address expectations or projections about the future, including statements about the company's strategy for growth, product development, market position, expected expenditures, financial results are forward-looking statements. Some of the forward-looking statements may be identified by words like ''expects,'' anticipates,'' ''plans,'' ''intends,'' ''projects,'' ''indicates,'' and similar expressions. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors, including those discussed more fully elsewhere in this release and in DuPont's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, particularly its Current Report on Form 8-K filed on November 13, 1998, as well as others, could cause results to differ materially from those stated. These factors include, but are not limited to changes in the laws, regulations, policies and economic conditions of countries in which the company does business; competitive pressures; successful integration of structural changes, including acquisitions, divestitures and alliances; failure of the company or related third parties to become Year 2000 capable; research and development of new products, including regulatory approval and market acceptance. SOURCE: DuPont

To: Dan Spillane who wrote (1544)	3/10/1999 1:52:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 2539

03/10 13:14 FOCUS-Dupont seeks to raise its biotech profile NEW YORK, March 10 (Reuters) - DuPont Co. <DD.N> took steps on Wednesday to show off its pharmaceutical businesses, saying it was seeking alliances and that it will create a tracking stock to allow the hidden value of the operations to flourish. The company, is likely to strike a deal with one or more partners by the end of the year, DuPont Chief Executive Charles Holliday said in a prepared statement. "Our goal is to bring our already solid DuPont Pharmaceuticals to critical mass through strategic alliances," Holliday said in the statement. "Given the success of our discussions to date, we expect to be able to conclude one or more of these alliances by the end of this year." A published report earlier this month said that DuPont and life sciences heavyweight Monsanto Co. <MTC.N> were in preliminary merger talks. Both companies declined comment then and Monsanto declined comment again on Wednesday after DuPont's announcement. Investors continued to push up DuPont's stock in the wake of the news. Its shares were up $3.875 at $57 in early afternoon trade on the New York Stock Exchange. But some analysts, like John Venusti of HSBC Securities, were wary about DuPont, saying the company's stock was likely to continue to perform poorly amid an unwillingness to restructure meaningfully. He cited cyclical businesses like nylon and polyester and also noted what he called an "utter lack of success" in the life sciences business. "We believe the meeting will do little to alleviate the abysmal performance of DuPont's stock over the last nine months -- i.e., we expect further disappointments from the meeting," Venusti wrote in a report dated March 10 that HSBC circulated Wednesday on the Internet via e-mail. It was not immediately clear whether Venusti's comments were written before DuPont's announcement, but they were, in any case, in stark contrast to the optimism DuPont expressed in its statement. DuPont said it will file to launch the "tracking stock" of its life sciences businesses with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission late in 1999 and will seek shareholder approval the following quarter. Tracking stocks are designed to isolate particular assets within a corporation that may have a particular value. Pharmaceuticals typically are far more profitable than chemicals, which for over a century have been the lifeblood of Wilmington, Del.-based DuPont. "Our governing objective is to increase shareholder value. Growth toward critical mass in our life sciences portfolio is an imperative. Today's announcement is further evidence of our commitment to transform DuPont into a faster growing, more profitable and less cyclical company," Holliday said. The company noted that the tax consequences of a tracking stock strategy are currently part of a legislative debate surrounding the Clinton Administration's fiscal 2000 budget. DuPont signaled its determination last summer to become a major player in life sciences, which includes pharmaceuticals and agricultural products, when it agreed to buy Merck & Co.'s <MRK.N> 50 percent interest in the two companies' DuPont-Merck joint venture for $2.6 billion. DuPont and Merck continue to share marketing rights on Sustiva, an AIDS drug that is the crown jewel of DuPont's pharmaceuticals portfolio. The life sciences businesses include DuPont Pharmaceuticals, Crop Protection Products and the recently formed Nutrition & Health business. Sales in 1998 for DuPont life sciences businesses totaled $4.3 billion, while all of DuPont had sales of $25.7 billion.