In its pre-close trading statement, separations technology specialist Whatman announced that they had missed their target of six to eight per cent in revenue growth for 2006 and landed at five percent. They also announced that the recently appointed CEO, Bill Emhiser, was asked to step down after less than 15 months at the top.
Whatman's total sales figure for 2006 was £114m (€173.7m), with the missed target blamed on customer orders that did not come through late in the year. However, the company anticipates these orders to be brought in during 2007.
"It was a mutual decision but we had lost confidence with Bill over a number of things. We had high expectations that he could not fulfil," Phil Greenhalgh, finance director at Whatman, told In-PharmaTechnologist.com.
"We got off to a good start in 2006 and we had set our expectations high but in the end showed disappointing figure of five per cent when we had predicted six to eight percent."
Over the past few years, Biometra, a subsidiary of Whatman, has been the subject of patent infringement allegations over its DNA analysis thermocyclers. The litigation has since been resolved, with a resulting release of £9m (€13.7m) in provisions added to Whatman's 2006 income statement. Biometra is reported to have signed licence agreements with Beckman Coulter and with Applera.
In addition, the company has boosted their stock inventory to improve customer service and avoid supply shortages.
"Whatman is currently underperforming and it is disappointing to report that the company has missed successive sales growth targets during 2006. Although the board is conscious of the number of senior management changes at Whatman in recent years, it is determined to put in place a management team that can deliver the sales and profit growth of which it is convinced the company is capable," said Bob Thian, chairman of Whatman.
Kieran Murphy took up the new CEO post on the 22 January 2007. He joined Whatman from Innovata, where he orchestrated the firm's merger with Vectura last year.