Elan says it has concluded its audit and will file its US accounts to December 31 2002 tomorrow and will hold its AGM in Dublin on October 21.
The firm said that the main change in the restated results would be a reduction in shareholder equity by another $46.1m from December 2002.
The struggling pharmaceutical firm has missed the accounts deadline seven times and tomorrow would have had to seek another waiver from bondholders. If the company continued to miss its deadline it would have breached certain debt covenants which could trigger the early repayment of $2 billion in debt, leading to the collapse of the company.
Kelly Martin, Elan's president and chief executive officer, said the completion of the audit was an important necessary step in the recovery effort of the firm.
He said: 'Our approach throughout this complex process has been exceedingly deliberate; this approach was designed in order to ensure that any open items were thoroughly reviewed by all the necessary constituencies before moving forward. Over the course of the last nine weeks we appreciate the patience and support of all of our stakeholders in seeing this process through to its conclusion.'
Martin said the firm remains focussed on executing its plans for improving and simplifying Elan's financial position, reducing any historical legal or regulatory issues, investing in core and strategic pipeline of products.
Elan will restate its 2001 US GAAP financial results and adjust its previously announced unaudited US GAAP financial information for the year ended December 31, 2002 and the quarter ended March 31, 2003. The restatement and adjustments will include the consolidation of one of the EPIL IIIs, and the consolidation of Shelly Bay Holdings, from June 29, 2002 to September 30, 2002.
Shelly Bay acquired certain financial assets from EPIL III on June 29, 2002.
The restatement will reduce diluted EPS for 2001 from $0.95 to $0.75. For 2002, the adjustment will reduce Elan's diluted loss per share from $6.85 to $6.65. Shareholders' equity at December 31, 2002 is reduced by less than $2 million. The adjustment reduces shareholders equity at March 31, 2003 by $16.2 million and increases Elan's loss per share for the quarter ended March 31, 2003 by less than $0.01.
Elan was required to provide noteholders with 2002 audited financial statements by June 29 2003, and a series of waivers has been granted since then. Three weeks ago it emerged that negotiations with auditors KPMG were delaying Elan's ability to file the accounts with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In Dublin this afternoon, Elan shares closed 25% higher at €5.30, having added €1.07.
