Aspen presses ahead with plans
Pharmaceutical firm soldiers on after share price plunge
Following a tumultuous four months during which its share price plunged, Aspen is soldiering on, having already spent R1.1bn of its R3.4bn investment in its Port Elizabeth sterile anaesthetics manufacturing facility. Once SA's pride and joy, Aspen lost the confidence it enjoyed after what analysts have described as an unclear strategy, overpriced stock and debt after an aggressive growth strategy. The company's share price has fallen more than 46% in the past year, with its biggest drop, of 30%, taking place over two days in September - the week in which it released its annual results. According to its annual results for the year ending in June 2018, Aspen said it had over R46.8bn in long term borrowings. It has asked its lenders to increase its debt covenant ratio from four times to 4.75 times, which can allow it to increase borrowings. But, in spite of market sentiment and the share price performance, Stavros Nicolaou, Aspen's senior executive of strategic trade and development, i...
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