CHESTERFIELD, United Kingdom, Nov. 19, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Mallinckrodt plc (NYSE: MNK) announced today that its Board of Directors has authorized an incremental $500 million share repurchase program. The new authorization permits the company to repurchase up to $500 million of Mallinckrodt plc ordinary shares. This new authorization supplements the roughly $200 million remaining from the previously authorized share repurchase plan announced in Jan. 2015.
Mallinckrodt's Board also authorized management to reduce the company's outstanding debt at its discretion. Both the share repurchase and debt reduction programs are open-ended in time, and based on Mallinckrodt's expected capacity to generate durable earnings and approximately $1 billion in annual cash flow.
"Mallinckrodt is pleased that the Board has acted to increase the company's flexibility and capacity to repurchase stock, and provided the opportunity to continue to de-lever our balance sheet and further reduce our net debt leverage, which at year-end was below our previous guidance of 4.0. The decision demonstrates the Board's confidence in Mallinckrodt's long-term earnings outlook and our expected ability to generate strong annual cash flow," said Mark Trudeau, Chief Executive Officer and President of Mallinckrodt. "In this unusually volatile marketplace, we believe this is an excellent use of our strong capital position, while still enabling us to continue to identify, acquire and invest in underdeveloped assets to further our volume-driven growth strategy."
Trudeau emphasized that, "Mallinckrodt's growth strategy differs from that of other specialty pharmaceutical companies. We 'acquire to invest', targeting unique, highly durable assets that provide effective treatment alternatives, particularly for small, underserved and poorly penetrated patient populations. We then focus on building those assets through manufacturing modernization, lifecycle management, market expansion, and label enhancement. Most importantly, we continue to focus on creating strong clinical and health economic evidence to reinforce the effectiveness of our products and demonstrate their ability to improve patient outcomes and reduce costs for the healthcare system."
Since mid-2013, Mallinckrodt has transformed its portfolio. "We're proud that our investments are supporting and increasing the value of important medicines for patients and providers. We're assuring availability of important treatment alternatives for often fragile patients by investing in great products while simultaneously building new platforms of volume growth that will drive Mallinckrodt's future," said Trudeau.
Under the open-ended share repurchase program authorized by the Board, the company's ordinary shares may be purchased through any one or more of discretionary purchases on the open market, a 10b5-1 or 10b-18 trading plan, block trades, accelerated share repurchases or privately negotiated transactions. The number of shares repurchased and the timing of repurchases will depend on a number of factors, including share price, trading volume and general market conditions, along with working capital requirements, general business conditions and other factors. The repurchase authority may be suspended, modified or discontinued at any time, subject to the parameters of any trading plan, if applicable, that the company may implement.
Under the open-ended debt reduction program authorized by the Board, the company may acquire, redeem or repay senior notes, term loans, revolving loans or other third party indebtedness through a variety of methods, including open market transactions or privately negotiated transactions. The amount and timing of any debt reduction will depend on a number of factors, including market price, trading volume and general market conditions, along with working capital requirements, general business conditions and other factors. The debt reduction authority may be suspended, modified or discontinued at any time.
Mallinckrodt will announce its fourth quarter and year-end fiscal 2015 financial results on Nov. 23, 2015, and has also scheduled an investor briefing on Dec. 7. More details are available in the Investor Relations section of the company's website.
ABOUT MALLINCKRODT
Mallinckrodt is a global specialty biopharmaceutical and imaging business that develops, manufactures, markets and distributes specialty pharmaceutical products and imaging agents. Areas of focus include therapeutic drugs for autoimmune and rare disease specialty areas like neurology, rheumatology, nephrology and pulmonology; immunotherapy and neonatal respiratory critical care therapies; and analgesics and central nervous system drugs. The company's core strengths include the acquisition and management of highly regulated raw materials; deep regulatory expertise; and specialized chemistry, formulation and manufacturing capabilities. To learn more about Mallinckrodt, visit www.mallinckrodt.com.
Mallinckrodt uses its website as a channel of distribution of important company information, such as press releases, investor presentations and other financial information. It also uses its website to expedite public access to time-critical information regarding the company in advance of or in lieu of distributing a press release or a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission disclosing the same information. Therefore, investors should look to the Investor Relations page of the website for important and time-critical information. Visitors to the website can also register to receive automatic e-mail and other notifications alerting them when new information is made available on the Investor Relations page of the website.
Cautionary Statements Related to Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this document that are not strictly historical, including statements regarding the share repurchase and debt reduction programs, future financial condition and operating results, economic, business, competitive and/or regulatory factors affecting Mallinckrodt's businesses and any other statements regarding events or developments that we believe or anticipate will or may occur in the future, may be "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and involve a number of risks and uncertainties.
There are a number of important factors that could cause actual events to differ materially from those suggested or indicated by such forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. These factors include risks and uncertainties related to, among other things: the timing, amount and cost of share repurchases and debt reduction; the parties' ability to satisfy the conditions to the divestiture of the Contrast Media and Delivery Systems business and complete the divestiture on the anticipated timeline or at all; general economic conditions and conditions affecting the industries in which Mallinckrodt operates; the commercial success of Mallinckrodt's products; Mallinckrodt's ability to realize anticipated growth, synergies and cost savings from its recently completed acquisitions; changes in laws and regulations; Mallinckrodt's ability to identify, acquire or close future acquisitions; Mallinckrodt's ability to successfully integrate acquisitions of operations, technology, products and businesses generally and to realize anticipated growth, synergies and cost savings; Mallinckrodt's ability to successfully develop or commercialize new products; Mallinckrodt's ability to protect intellectual property rights; Mallinckrodt's ability to receive procurement and production quotas granted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; customer concentration; Mallinckrodt's reliance on certain individual products that are material to its financial performance; cost containment efforts of customers, purchasing groups, third-party payers and governmental organizations; the reimbursement practices of a small number of public or private insurers; limited clinical trial data for H.P. Acthar® Gel; complex reporting and payment obligations under healthcare rebate programs; Mallinckrodt's ability to achieve anticipated benefits of price increases; Mallinckrodt's ability to achieve expected benefits from restructuring activities; complex manufacturing processes; competition; product liability losses and other litigation liability; ongoing governmental investigations; material health, safety and environmental liabilities; retention of key personnel; conducting business internationally; and the effectiveness of information technology infrastructure.
These and other factors are identified and described in more detail in the "Risk Factors" section of Mallinckrodt's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 26, 2014 and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 27, 2015 and June 26, 2015. The forward-looking statements made herein speak only as of the date hereof and Mallinckrodt does not assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events and developments or otherwise, except as required by law.
CONTACTS
Investor Relations
Coleman N. Lannum, CFA
Senior Vice President, Investor Strategy and IRO
314-654-6649
cole.lannum@mallinckrodt.com
Media
Rhonda Sciarra
Senior Communications Manager
314-654-8618
rhonda.sciarra@mallinckrodt.com
Meredith Fischer
Senior Vice President, Communications and Public Affairs
314-654-3318
meredith.fischer@mallinckrodt.com
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SOURCE Mallinckrodt plc
