Roche dismisses crisis claims as board meets

Roche of Switzerland has dismissed media reports that a board meetingheld on May 14 is a knee-jerk reaction to the recent poor performance of the firm's drug division and job cuts (Marketletters passim), as well as the purchase by Swiss competitor Novartis of a 20% voting stake in Roche and the sacking of chief financial officer Anton Affentranger (Marketletter May 14).

Roche says that the date was fixed at a board meeting held on April 3, the day of its annual shareholders meeting, though no details of the agenda to be discussed were disclosed. The Financial Times had suggested that the meeting on May 14 was an unscheduled get-together which was originally planned for September 2001, saying that it would focus on restructuring the group's pharmaceutical operations. The newspaper added that discussions would also take place concerning job cuts, most of which are expected to be made at Roche's US facilities in Nutley, New Jersey.

....further reduces stake in LabCorp