Aspen issues clarification after share falls 9%
Changes to its debt covenant if it fails to conclude the €740m sale of its nutritionals business to Lactalis by the end of the year alarmed investors
A 9% dive in Aspen’s share price on Friday morning, as the market reacted to a pre-close statement the pharmaceutical group issued at 5.30pm on Thursday, prompted it to issue a clarification. The issue that appeared to alarm investors in Thursday evening’s statement was a paragraph titled “funding arrangements“ which said that if it does not complete the €740m sale of its nutritionals business to Lactalis by December 31, the leverage ratio in its debt covenant will be increased to 4.75 times from 4 times. “Aspen wishes to clarify that this agreement was reached with Aspen’s syndicate of funders during the period to November 2018, providing multi-currency facilities to negotiate a conditional and temporary adjustment to Aspen’s leverage ratio covenant as at December 31 2018, as reported in yesterday’s Sens statement,” Friday morning’s statement said. Aspen’s share price fell sharply after it released its results for the year to end-June in September.
Its 2018 financial year res...
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