rejected by Scroggs, who felt that they showed ‘a fundamental misunder-
standing of the nature of our pharmaceutical business’.^39
Fisons struggled through the next year. The consumer healthcare inter-
ests were duly sold, but the UK horticulture business was proving more
difficult to unload. The company continued its negotiations with the FDA,
finally securing approval for Tilade on 31 December 1992. Discussions
regarding the relicensing of Opticrom continued, but Imferon was for-
mally abandoned. The forced abandonment of the company’s next gener-
ation asthma drug, Tiperdane, in a late stage of development (an
occupational hazard in the drugs business), added to the company’s woes.
In late 1993, analysts were alerted to the fact that the scientific equipment
business was in trouble. Customers had been reluctant to invest in capital
equipment in a depressed economic climate. A price war in the US had
also taken its toll.
On Tuesday 13 December 1993, Egan announced that Fisons was once
more seeking to appoint a new chief executive, following the dismissal of
Cedric Scroggs. Finance director, Roy Thomas, would also retire immedi-
ately. The news was accompanied by yet another profits warning.
Difficulties in the Scientific Equipment Division had wiped out all of the
company’s profits for the entire year (see Tables 4.2.1 and 4.2.2 and Figures
4.2.2 and 4.2.3 for details of financial performance). The collapse, it tran-
spired, had highlighted some accounting practices in the Pharmaceutical
Division that were ‘unwise, though not illegal’.^39 The news sent the
company’s shares plunging to 102p. ‘It looks like a basket case’ was the
284 Relationship Marketing
Table 4.2.1 Fisons group sales, 1980–93Year Sales Profit before tax
(£m) (£m)1980 454.7 3.8
1981 494.4 9.2
1982 350.5 21.1
1983 365.4 31.2
1984 552.6 48.3
1985 646.7 72.3
1986 702.6 85.1
1987 760.3 109.1
1988 823.7 132.1
1989 1019.8 169.0
1990 1205.1 230.2
1991 1225.3 190.5
1992 1284.2 117.4
1993 1324.4 1.0Source: Fisons Annual Reports, 1980–93.