Armen announced at last week’s shareholders’ meeting in Dublin that he would step down now that the Irish pharmaceutical giant has seen its stock nearly quadruple in the last six months, after the company concluded a dramatic restructuring that included divesting many products and divisions and repairing its balance sheet.
Analysts say the one-time market darling is emerging from the wilderness and
appears to be on the verge of a return to profitability. Between mid-January 2002 and mid-July 2002, Elan’s stock was hit with 15 consecutive downgrades from analysts.
One analyst noted that many market watchers simply stopped paying attention, assuming the company would never reverse its fortunes.
Proving to be a tenacious survivor, however, Elan also announced a