Chief Executive Jeremy Levin, of Teva pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (NYSE:TEVA) (TLV:TEVA), promised to restructure the company into “the most indispensable medicines company in the world” and to provide significant value to its shareholders along the way.
Teva, at a meeting in New York with investors and analysts, said that the company will uphold “profitable growth” through 2017, in spite of various challenges, such as the alarming 2015 patent termination of its most important branded product, the multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone. Copaxone contributes for about 20 percent of Teva sales and around 50 percent of its profit.
The company, based in Israel, gave details about its cost cutting plans, areas to target, and new product development.
“Teva will be a reshaped company,” Levin said, and one that will be more transparent and accountable to Wall Street and its investors than it has been in the past. He said the dramatic transformation was underway.
“We have a completely new organization, a completely new management team,” Levin told Reuters after the meeting. “We have a process already ongoing inside the company. We are focused on credibility. We are focused on new products. We are changing our pipeline”.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (NYSE:TEVA) (TLV:TEVA) also declared that it will continue to return money to its investors and shareholders through dividend and share repurchase programs.
“I and other investors were hoping for a little more giveback of cash to investors … a little short-term candy, but they took an approach of being conservative,” said Steven Tepper, an analyst with Harel Finance. “He really put forward his strategy and he’s going to make a big difference in the company,” Tepper said. “He’s turning a classical generic company, with that extra bonus of Copaxone, into a company that will be much more a real Pharma company – more global, much more diverse and fully integrated”.
Analysts at Credit Suisse state, “Teva provided considerable specificity on its strategies and objectives, with respect to portfolio construction, business development, earnings profile, cost savings and capital allocation. The investor day contained no bombshells (positive or negative) but we believe it was constructive and remain Outperform rated with a $50 target price.”
Jeremy Levin said that in the years ahead he does not intend to see Teva to extract profit from one product and seeks to achieve that through growth of branded generics in the growing market and also its joint venture with The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) on an over the counter basis.
The company has a total of 15 drugs in the late-development stage and another 13 programs in mid-stage trials. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (NYSE:TEVA) (TLV:TEVA) has, however, ended its 12 other undergoing programs that were not in alliance with its strategy. Levin said that the company will focus on bringing new medicines into the market in its core area of expertise, such as central nervous system disorders and respiratory disease
