THE former finance director of ScottishPower has taken interim control at pharmaceuticals giant AstraZeneca.
Simon Lowth, 50, is stepping up to replace chief executive David Brennan, who abruptly announced his departure yesterday after six years in the job.
Mr Brennan's earlier-than-expected retirement sits alongside chairman Louis Schweitzer's move to leave three months ahead of schedule, to be replaced by ex-Volvo boss Leif Johansson.
Shareholders have been putting pressure on Mr Brennan, paid more than £9 million last year, after the group cut full-year profit forecasts following an 11% sales drop in the first quarter to $7.35 billion (£4.55bn). Pre-tax profits plunged by 38% from $3.3bn to $2.05bn in the first three months of 2012.
Longer-term prospects are also uncertain as multiple drug patents are expiring in the next few years with little in the pipeline to replace them.
Former McKinsey management consultant Mr Lowth is no stranger to boardroom shake-ups, having played a key part in an executive cull at ScottishPower in 2005, which saw him emerge as right-hand man to then-chief executive Ian Russell.
Mr Lowth joined AstraZeneca as chief financial officer in 2007 and will now take over as interim chief executive on June 1.
The company would not comment on individuals who may be in the running for the job full time but said a mixture of internal and external applicants would be considered.
Mr Lowth said the company was not rushing to change direction and he would be participating in the annual strategy review process with the rest of the board over the summer.
Outgoing chairman Mr Schweitzer said: "I know we can count on Simon's leadership, supported by a strong and experienced senior executive team, to maintain focus and momentum as the board seeks a smooth transition to a new chief executive over the coming months."
Mr Brennan also said he fully supported the decision to place Mr Lowth in charge.
The shares ended the day down 174.5 pence at £26.66.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article