The former Siemens manager replaced long-time Fresenius boss Stephan Sturm at the beginning of October.
(Photo: dpa)
Frankfurt The new Fresenius boss Michael Sen is harsh on his predecessors at the top of the health care group. “Fresenius lacked direction,” said Sen on Wednesday at the balance sheet press conference in Bad Homburg. The company has set wrong priorities in recent years.
“The structures in the group were far too complex. Growth was achieved at the expense of returns,” said the former Siemens manager, who replaced Stephan Sturm, Fresenius’ boss of many years, at the beginning of October. “In the end, more and more debt led to less and less room for maneuver.” Fresenius therefore needs a change. This was also shown by the falling profits in the past year.
On Tuesday evening, the responsible bodies gave the green light for a restructuring of the group. The listed dialysis subsidiary Fresenius Medical Care (FMC), which is particularly under pressure in the USA, is to be converted into a stock corporation, which means that the problem child will only have to be considered proportionately in the Fresenius balance sheet in the future.
The service division Vamed is also only managed as a financial investment. “Vamed is a different business than Fresenius as a whole,” said Sen. He wants to focus on the Helios clinics and the Kabi drug division.
At the same time, he put pressure on the FMC board of directors around the new boss Helen Giza: the previous daughter would be given more flexibility, but also more responsibility. The FMC management was clearly told how quickly they wanted to see improvements. With its 32 percent stake, Fresenius sees itself as an active investor and hopes for rising share prices. “Of course we want to benefit from the future value growth of FMC,” said Sen.
>> Read about this: Operation Separation: How Fresenius Medical Care is preparing for a possible sale
Giza said at the press conference that FMC wants to improve occupancy by downsizing its US clinic network. She wants to get out of permanently unsustainable foreign markets. Business and product areas outside the core business are for sale.
The expectations of the new FMC boss are high.
(Photo: dpa)
The fund company Deka emphasized that Fresenius should not stop at detaching from FMC. “The deconsolidation of FMC by converting it into an AG will only address the problems on the surface,” said Cornelia Zimmermann, specialist in sustainability and corporate governance at Deka. “It remains open whether a value-adding solution can be found.”
The plans gave the FMC shares a boost: they gained around four percent on Wednesday and were thus the biggest winner in the Dax, while Fresenius was the biggest Dax loser with a minus of around four percent.
More: New legal form: Fresenius decides to divest its subsidiary FMC