Almirall has unveiled a restructuring which will see the loss of 250 jobs in its home market of Spain, about 15% of the local workforce.
The Barcelona-headquartered group says that markets in Europe and particularly in Spain have been impacted by “economic-driven decisions” made by health authorities that have negatively affected growth “and the introduction and uptake of new products”. Almirall notes that the pharmaceutical market in Spain has been contracting for four consecutive years “and growth is not expected in the short term”.
Almirall’s performance “has followed this trend”, hence the restructuring. In Spain, the firm has tried to contain costs, realise synergies and improve competitiveness, but these steps “while effective, have not been enough to reach the desired objectives”.
Chief executive Eduardo Sanchiz said “we have been investing heavily over the last few years to maximise the potential of our portfolio of new products. However these efforts are happening at a time of unprecedented challenges in our industry and in key markets for our company”. He added that “we have growth opportunities ahead of us and we will only manage to achieve them if we rebalance our resources and focus our efforts where we are in a better position to realise long-term success”.
