Pharmacy Daily | Another Sigma chief goes

THE chief financial officer of troubled pharmaceutical manufacturer Sigma, Mark Smith, has today announced his resignation effectively immediately. A statement to the Stock Exchange this morning revealed only that Smith had resigned “to pursue other interests”. Mark Watson, a partner with accounting firm KPMG, will act in the role until the board has identified and appointed a replacement, the company said. Smith’s resignation follows hot on the heels of Sigma’s former chief executive officer Elmo De Alwis’ exit, which eventually followed the company’s massive writedown of its generics business. Shareholders have been critical of the Sigma management team after the company not only recorded serious losses but then allegedly delayed the financial results from publication and suspended trading to protect itself from severe share plunges until after it had finally released the results, some weeks after they were due. Shares in the company have now slumped to just 34c each - about a third of their level just six weeks ago. Sigma’s earnings prospects have also been downgraded in recent days by a number of analysts concerned about the impact of the new Medicines Australia pact with the government (PD yesterday) which is likely to impact on the generics industry.

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