believe that it is of a comparatively temporary nature and that by the
second half of this year we will be back on our growth pattern’.^38
A month later the company was able to announce that Cedric Scroggs,
chairman of the Scientific Equipment Division, had been appointed to the
post of chief executive. Other board members were reshuffled. Bob
Lankester, head of the horticulture business, replaced Scroggs in scientific
equipment. Scroggs would also take over the post of chairman of the
Pharmaceutical Division, following the resignation of Peter Fothergill. The
City had made no secret of the fact that it would have preferred an out-
sider, but Egan insisted that having built the Scientific Equipment Division
up from nothing to a £68 million profit in 1991, Scroggs was ‘far and away
the best man for the job’.^37 The announcement was accompanied by the
news that a date had been set for the long-awaited FDA inspection of
Opticrom’s facilities. The visit would take place on 20 April, meaning that,
subject to a clean bill of health, approval should follow almost immedi-
ately, putting the drug back on the US market in time for the autumn
hayfever season.
On his appointment Scroggs acted at once, slaying two of Kerridge’s
sacred cows to demonstrate that changes were afoot. The horticulture busi-
ness – together with its troublesome peat bogs – was up for sale; so was the
over-the-counter medicines and vitamin units of the Pharmaceutical
Division. Their sale would provide cash to reinvest in the core drugs busi-
ness. Fisons would also be seeking joint marketing agreements to improve
the marketing of Tilade in some parts of Europe.
At the company’s annual meeting on 12 May 1992, it became apparent
that, although the FDA had yet to formally report on the Opticrom inspec-
tion, all was not well. There were real doubts as to whether the drug would
make it back onto the US market this autumn. Worse still, it came to light
that the US patent on Opticrom would expire early the following year.
Rival versions of the relatively simple drug would by then be on the
market. Long-standing rumours about the company’s intention to
abandon the manufacture of Imferon were also given credence, when the
company confirmed that American drugs group, Starius, had just received
FDA approval to market a similar product. The shares took their now cus-
tomary skip downwards.
On 12 June a profits warning was issued, indicating that profits for the
half year to June 1992 would be only around half those for the same period
last year. It became clear that the most gloomy analysts’ forecasts had been
grossly overoptimistic. The shares crashed 77p on the day, wiping almost a
quarter off the company’s value. Only speculation that a bid must now be
imminent prevented them from falling further. Investors were infuriated
by the imprecise nature of the statement and bailed out of the stock as
quickly as possible. Criticisms that Fisons should have warned investors of
the extent of the problems a month earlier at the annual meeting were
The referral and influence market domains 283