The head office and logo of Valeant Pharmaceutical are pictured in Montreal in this file photo.Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press
A key player in the serial acquisition strategy at Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. is stepping down.
The Laval, Que.-based pharma giant said on Wednesday that chief financial officer Howard Schiller plans to resign once a successor has been found.
He will stay on as a board member and stand for re-election at the annual shareholders' meeting next month.
Mr. Schiller, 53, helped Valeant chairman and chief executive officer Michael Pearson orchestrate the company's aggressive growth-by-acquisition plan.
Valeant also posted first-quarter profit on Wednesday that beat analysts' estimates and boosted its outlook for the year.
The company now says it expects per-share earnings in 2015 of between $10.90 (U.S.) and $11.20, up from $10.10-to-$10.40. It is projecting revenue of $10.4-billion to $10.6-billion, up from $9.2-billion-to-$9.3-billion.
The revised forecast comes after Valeant earlier this month completed its $11.1-billion acquisition of gastrointestinal disorders specialist Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
Meanwhile, first-quarter earnings excluding extraordinary items reached $2.36 (U.S.) per share, up from $1.76 in the year-earlier period.
Analysts had forecast an average of $2.34 per share.
Net income was $73.7-million or 21 cents per share, compared with a loss of $22.6-million or 7 cents a share in the year-earlier period.
Revenue rose to $2.19-billion, a 16 per cent increase over the prior year despite negative foreign-exchange impact of $140-million. Analysts had forecast revenue of $2.15-billion.
Valeant did not set a date for when it expects the new CFO to be in place.
"Over the past few years, Howard has been an integral part of the management team at Valeant – his unwavering commitment, tireless work ethic, strong intellect and good judgment have helped increase our market capitalization from under $14-billion when he joined [in December 2011] to nearly $70-billion today, while positioning the company for sustainable growth and continued success," Mr. Pearson said in a news release.
Valeant has come under fire from critics who say it bulks up on acquisitions only to slash R&D and staff once a deal has completed, and that it shows little organic growth and produces opaque financial results. It has also taken some flak for using its international structure to take advantage of lower tax rates by having its head office in Canada.
Bertrand Marotte