Pfizer to Explore Sale or Spinoff of a Division

Pfizer to Explore Sale or Spinoff of a Division

Pfizer to Explore Sale or Spinoff of a Division

February 8, 2006

 

Pfizer said yesterday that it would explore spinning off or selling its consumer health care division, a unit that had $3.9 billion in sales last year and whose brands include Listerine mouthwash and Benadryl allergy medicine.

Pfizer, the world's largest drug maker, has taken several steps recently to bolster its flagging stock, including raising its dividend and trying to streamline its operations. Spinning off the consumer unit would be another step to please Wall Street, because investors view the division as outside Pfizer's core business of prescription drugs, analysts said.

The unit accounted for less than 8 percent of Pfizer's $52 billion in sales last year, and about 4 percent of operating profit. Based on the price-sales and price-earnings multiples of other consumer products companies, the division could be worth $8 billion or more as an independent company. Pfizer did not disclose whether it expected to lay off any of the division's 3,500 employees as part of a sale.

"It's at the margin," said Robert Hazlett, an analyst at SunTrust Robertson Humphrey. "It's $3 billion and change of a $50 billion company, so it's not inconsequential, but is it critical to the growth of the company going forward? No."

Besides Listerine and Benadryl, the unit's other well-known brands include Rogaine, Zantac, Rolaids, Bengay and Lubriderm. The unit has nine brands with more than $100 million in annual sales, according to Pfizer.

Pfizer made the announcement yesterday afternoon, after the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. In after-hours trading, Pfizer shares rose almost 46 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $25.64.

In a statement, Pfizer said it wanted "to unlock the value of the business for Pfizer shareholders at a time when market valuations are attractive for large, high-quality consumer businesses." Pfizer said it had not yet committed itself to selling the unit and could still decide to retain it. But a sale is probable after yesterday's announcement.

The division had $670 million in operating profit last year, Pfizer said. Its sales grew 10 percent in 2005, from $3.5 billion to $3.9 billion.

At a multiple of two times its sales last year, the unit would be worth about $8 billion. At a more aggressive multiple, like 2.5 times sales or 15 times operating profit, it could be worth $10 billion.