Viatris CEO sees ‘minimum’ free cash flow in $2.3B range over next 3 to 5 years

Asked during the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference about what Viatris is most focused on for 2024 and over the next few years, CEO Scott Andrew Smith replied, according to a transcript of the event: “So I wouldn’t say that we have the divestitures behind us. They’re announced, we need to work through that and close them and they’ll continue to close as we get through sort of the end of the first half this year. Once we get those divestitures, we’ll be focusing on paying down our debt to get to that target ratio. And after that, we’re going to execute our strategic plan, right, and our capital allocation plan. Approximately over the next 3 to 5 years, 50% of that free cash flow, which at a minimum should be at the $2.3 billion range, 50% return to shareholders through share buybacks which we’re going to try and be increasingly aggressive around as we move in ’24 and ’25, the dividend, of course, and then for business development. And as I mentioned, I see business development as far more than just binary M&A I think licensing, partnering, strategic arrangements, research agreements and things like that are very, very important to our future. So I see a fulsome approach to business development and building the portfolio long term. And I think for me, the base of the company is so strong. We’ve integrated. We’ve streamlined. We’re now moving, and we’ve seen in the last couple of quarters real organic revenue growth. And that solid base of the business allows us to do the other things, but we’re going to execute our capital allocation plan as laid out, and we’re going to build the company and the future revenue streams of the company through business development.”