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180 degree turn:
Chief Controller
Iris Löw-Friedrich
distances herself
from its long-time CEO
Werner Lanthaler
Photo: Pr
Make sure that at least one person in the world thinks as much of you as Evotec supervisory board chairman
Iris Löw-Friedrich
(63) thinks of her long-time CEO
Werner Lanthaler
(55).
This wish could germinate among readers of the press release that the Hamburg pharmaceutical research company sent out on January 3, 2024 to announce the unexpected and immediate departure of the Austrian.
“On behalf of the members of the Supervisory Board and everyone at Evotec, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Werner for his unique vision and the many important successes over the past almost 15 years,” enthused Löw-Friedrich.
“We respect his decision, remain in contact and wish him all the best for his future.” Lanthaler will “continue to be available to the company's supervisory board as a strategic advisor,” the statement said.
Less than three weeks later, the chief inspector made a U-turn.
There are “no further advisory roles for Lanthaler” and “no plans to involve him in the future,” said Löw-Friedrich in a conference call with analysts and journalists on January 22nd.
The head of the supervisory board did not give reasons for her 180-degree rotation.
Evotec maintained that Lanthaler had asked for an early termination of his contract, which runs until March 2026, for personal reasons.
Turning away from the first-name friend
However, Löw-Friedrich said publicly for the first time that Lanthaler had violated company regulations.
This involves 36 share transactions by the CEO with Evotec shares from 2021 to 2023, which the company made on December 22nd and December 28th.
and on January 2nd.
had reported – one day before the resignation was announced.
In the press release about the departure, Löw-Friedrich and Evotec did not mention the stock transactions at all.
They could only be found in the designated part of the investor relations page and on relevant information portals.
On January 4th, manager magazin was the first medium to report on this in detail and to analyze the close temporal connections between the times of stock transactions and important company events.
Since Lanthaler's resignation and stock transactions became known, the Evotec share price has fallen from more than 21 euros to just over 15 euros.
The business news agency dpa-afx quoted stock analyst
Charles Weston
from the Canadian bank RBC on January 15th as saying that he “assumes that the behavior of the CEO puts the company in a bad light among investors.”
The US asset manager T. Rowe Price, which reported ownership of more than 10 percent of Evotec shares at the end of 2022, reduced its stake to less than 5 percent the day after Lanthaler's resignation.
Chief Controller Löw-Friedrich is Chief Medical Officer at the Belgian pharmaceutical company UCB.
She has also held a professorship for internal medicine at the University of Frankfurt since 2000.
The scientist has been on the Evotec supervisory board since 2014. The academic was apparently unable to prevent the scandal surrounding Lanthaler's stock transactions, which were probably reported too late and were not reported in the Evotec press release of January 3rd.
Roland Sackers
(55), who heads the Audit and Compliance Committee on the Supervisory Board, was also
unable to do this.
As CFO at the listed biotech company
Qiagen,
he should have extensive financial market experience.
Blaming the previously highly praised “Werner”
Löw-Friedrich revealed in the conference call that was called at short notice that Evotec executives were obliged according to internal guidelines to have intended share transactions approved in advance.
When asked by stock analyst
Christian Ehrmann
from Warburg Research whether the transactions in question had been examined in advance, the head of the supervisory board replied: “The stock transactions were not approved in advance.
The processes were clearly not followed by Werner Lanthaler.”
Evotec officials once again claimed that the company had complied with all obligations and therefore did not expect any legal consequences for Evotec.
When asked by fund manager Elisabeth Weisenhorn
from Frankfurt-based asset manager Portikus Investment, Löw-Friedrich confirmed
that Evotec would query the shareholdings of board members towards the end of the year.
“When we are given false information, there are limits to what we can do,” she added.
Evotec published the stock trades shortly after receiving information about them.
Stock analyst Falko Friedrich
from Deutsche Bank
asked about the risk of investigations by authorities such as the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) .
“We are not aware of any investigations by US or German regulatory authorities into any misconduct by the company,” Löw-Friedrich replied.
“We do not currently expect any legal proceedings in these jurisdictions.”
Profitability in focus
Interim CEO
Mario Polywka
(60) once again confirmed the earnings forecast for 2023. “We entered 2024 with increased demand for our services and have no reason to change our expectations for 2025,” he added.
Löw-Friedrich announced that after a phase of growth, profitability was now the priority.
Fund manager Weisenhorn pointed out that Lanthaler had said until recently that it was the time to invest and not the time to target profitability and asked whether the company wanted to change this now.
Löw-Friedrich did not expressly contradict this.
“What we want to achieve is profitable growth,” said the head of the supervisory board.
The focus is on both, added interim boss Polywka, who quickly moved from the supervisory board to the head of the board.
The search for a permanent successor for Lanthaler, who has distanced himself from the supervisory board, continues.