Scalper1 News
Beleaguered drug giant Valeant Pharmaceuticals ( VRX ) was trading higher Tuesday after it announced that it had finished its accounting review and would file its 2015 annual report in time to avoid a credit default. Valeant formed an ad hoc committee to review its books late last year, after a scandal led to the end of its unusual relationship with specialty pharmacy Philidor. The committee has already announced some minor adjustments to 2014 and Q1 2015 earnings, but working out the details has delayed the filing of the 10-K annual financial report past the March 30 deadline set by Valeant’s bank credit agreement. After that, it had 30 days to file — until April 29 — before going into default. Since Valeant’s debt load is swollen from years of rapid-fire acquisitions, concerns about the credit default helped cut the stock price in half last month, when Valeant issued Q4 results and 2016 guidance well below Wall Street estimates. But on Tuesday, Valeant said that it expects to file the 10-K by the April 29 deadline. “After conducting more than 70 interviews and reviewing over 1 million documents, the ad hoc committee has not identified any additional items requiring restatements beyond those matters previously disclosed,” Valeant Chairman Robert Ingram said in a statement. “We believe it is appropriate to transfer responsibility for any continuing work to the board’s independent directors.” Valeant stock was up more than 8% in morning trading on the stock market today , near 28. The stock is still down some 89% from its all-time high above 263 touched last August, and it still has a ways to go before getting back to normal. The company is looking for a new CEO as activist investor William Ackman moves to take over the board, while director and former CFO Howard Schiller has refused to relinquish his position. Scalper1 News
Scalper1 News