†rsrapport Nycomed - Takeda Pharmaceuticals International GmbH

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER´s REPORTAn announcement was made to consolidate the head office in Roskilde withintwo years, in order to have the management group assembled at one site whenpreparing for an initial public offering of Nycomed.The announcement to consolidate the International Product Development (IPD) inRoskilde was made in February, and the task was completed by September. Thedepartment was earlier split with one Norwegian and one Danish part, whichmade it difficult to reach into critical mass in each department and also incurredsubstantial travelling costs between the sites. The consolidation has been successful,and the dynamic organisation with approximately 115 persons is nowwell established in Roskilde.The project to restructure our Nordic manufacturing structure is the exercise thatis most profoundly changing our organisation. The project was initiated in April,and in August, the Board of Directors approved a plan, which involved• a DKK 100 million upgrade of the plant in Asker, Norway, to support our largestproduct CalciChew ®• a closedown of the factory in Oslo• the possible sale of our plants at Elverum, Norway, and Helseholmen,Denmark.A project organisation has been formed to manage the implementation until itscompletion late 2002. The restructuring includes a reduction of the workforce inNorway of about 200 persons within this period. The operations staff in Oslo andAsker affected by these changes have been granted appropriate compensationpackages and bonus programs.Looking forwardThe financial performance for the year ended considerably above expectationsand also above the original long-term plan both in terms of revenue and profit.To pursue the strategy statement of developing Nycomed as a leading marketingfranchise in Northern and Eastern Europe, the year 2000 was concluded with amajor investment in Finland. Discussions with Leiras Oy (Schering AG) resultedin the establishment of a jointly owned company to be named Oy Leiras FinlandAb (agreement signed 9 th January 2001). The company will consist of Nycomed'sFinnish business, Oy Nycomed Ab, and Leiras' domestic business. The companywill benefit from Leiras’ traditionally strong position on the Finnish market and–9–