HEALTH
Formula sale aside, Aspen's still got bottle
CEO frustrated by lack of understanding as share price tumbles
By the time Aspen Pharmacare presented its annual results on Thursday, the company's shares had dropped as much as 26% as investors fretted over the sale of its global nutritionals business that specialises in baby milk formula, and concerns over the "quality" of its earnings. CEO Stephen Saad was dismissive of the plunging share price, saying his focus was on operations and not sentiment. Shares "go up and down, sometimes it's so high it is terrifying, to be honest, at a personal level, because you've got these huge expectations. It's much easier when the share price is down. Over the years I've had the time when the share is higher than I believe and there are times when I think it is a lot lower than the underlying growth. I can't drive sentiment, I can only drive the operating performance." Saad said when he listed Aspen the share price was 53c "so I don't sit here and live for a 5% share price [increase] or a 10% share price [increase]". Loosely quoting Winston Churchill, the C...
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