Almirall SA's new CEO is seeking to reassure investors he steadied the ship in 2017 and has positioned it for future growth. Announcing a 16% drop in net sales to €639m last year, Peter Guenter emphasized ongoing cost savings, new control mechanisms and a focus on dermatology growth opportunities as his tools for getting Almirall on course for success. He promised a return to growth in revenues and earnings in 2018, but wouldn't offer any longer-term targets.
Among the challenges he has faced since assuming control at Almirall in October 2017 have been sorting out business irregularities in the US, generic competition to its Aqua Pharmaceuticals subsidiary's oral acne treatment, slowing growth for its ThermiGen aesthetics unit, late-stage discontinuations of nail psoriasis and onychomycosis trials from the PoliGroup business acquired for €365m in 2016, and
"The nice thing about a mid-sized company like Almirall is that once you start to take decisions the company follows very quickly, and you can move around in certain directions probably much faster than very big companies," observed Guenter, who was previously