Business - New SKB FD strategy
SmithKline Beecham's newly appointed finance chief has laid to rest proposals for a merger with Glaxo Wellcome, and outlined his ten-year financial strategy for the company, reports Lawrie Holmes.
Andrew Bonfield, who at 36 became the youngest FTSE-100 FD, said: ?The merger is dead and behind us.?
He said there would not be any major changes at SKB, but promised ?there will be a shuffling of the pack?.
He said his previous position as former FD Hugh Collum?s deputy was still vacant, and there would be some changes within the 3,000-strong finance team. Collum has left SKB to become non-executive chairman of UK biotechnology company Chiroscience.
Bonfield said SKB had launched a ten-year strategic plan for finance which is intended to ?add value beyond the numbers?. He refused to say what the full impact would be on future profits, which last year were #1.65bn on turnover of #7.8bn. But he added: ?The plan will look at best practice and how we manage parts of the company.? Bonfield?s time will be spent travelling between SKB?s US and UK subsidiaries. ?Because of this, we believe in the need for international accounting standards,? he said.
Since he joined in 1989, Bonfield has been tasked with ensuring SKB?s smooth development, including the integration between SmithKline Beckman and Beecham.