Danish allergy specialist ALK will have a new CEO in 2024, with current incumbent Carsten Hellmann set to step down after a seven-year spell in the hot seat. Hellmann, 59, will be replaced by the comparatively youthful 45-year-old Peter Halling at the end of the year, which ALK Board Chairman Anders Hedegaard says will help future-proof the company.

 

A Move to Youth

Halling is currently the CEO of Fertin Pharma, the global market leader in medicated chewing gum, and a veteran of Novozymes, Ingredion, and Doehler Group. Speaking to MedWatch about what Halling can bring to the position, Hedegaard said, “Being in my over-sixties, I’ll allow myself to say that Peter is a young and dynamic 45-year-old. He’s always been very successful in his past jobs, and has the right integrity as a person. He’s a winner. A former elite athlete, he evidently aims to win when starting something new and is prepared to bring all his qualifications into play to do so,” says Hedegaard.

The Board Chair was, however, at pains to quell allegations that Hellmann was sacked. “Carsten is 59 years old, and is closing in on an age where you might say there probably aren’t another 15 years of being CEO left in him,” he noted. “The board took initiative which it does to reflect that we are in the driver’s seat when it comes to securing ALK’s future.”

Carsten is 59 years old, and is closing in on an age where you might say there probably aren’t another 15 years of being CEO left in him

Anders Hedegaard, Chairman of the Board of Directors, ALK

Hedegaard continued, “We’ve continuously had CEO succession considerations on the board to avoid any sudden reaction. During planning, we got to the point where we thought it was the time to look more actively to be ahead of the curve … “I wouldn’t use that expression [laid off]. What I’m saying is that an agreement was reached, and that the initiative for that agreement was taken by the board. If Carsten had been fired, with all that might entail, we wouldn’t have him stay on for the next six months – I’d have asked him to leave. If we didn’t believe he could run the company, we wouldn’t leave him at the helm for half a year.”

In a press release, Hellmann said, “I am proud of the results that we as a team have achieved in ALK during my leadership, as we have raised the bar and embarked on a journey to capture a greater share of the global allergy market. ALK is strongly positioned on both the short, medium and long term and I look forward to taking part in ALK’s continued development before handing over the baton to Peter Halling.”

 

Spate of Exits & Sinking Share Price

Hellmann’s exit is one of several prominent leadership resignations that ALK has seen in recent times, with the company also losing its head of research Henrik Jacobi and CFO Søren Jelert in March and May respectively. They were replaced by erstwhile employees at Denmark’s pharma giant Novo Nordisk, Henriette Mersebach and Steensen Søjle.

Hedegaard railed against suggestions that the company was in crisis, telling Medwatch that “These are separate events with each their explanation. Nothing tumultuous is taking place on the executive board. With deep respect for those who have left ALK – Søren and Henrik have done fine work – we have got some super strong profiles instead. Alongside Peter, the board is now convinced we have a really strong team.”

The reaction of the markets to recent news seems to show that such optimism is not universal with ALK’s share price plunging by 11 percent to DKK 79.55 (USD 11.67) per share. “Carsten has had a major role to play in the latest years’ success. Additionally, there is something about the timing that makes people a little worried,” said Jesper Ingildsen, an analyst at DNB.

Ingildsen continued, “[Peter] seems like a good fit. But the market knows Carsten and has been a big fan of Carsten and what he has achieved at ALK. So based on that, I can understand that some investors are getting nervous and would like to know whether there are other reasons for the shift, and who would also like the new chief exec to say something about whether he simply plans to follow the same strategy.”

 

A Legacy of Growth

Hellmann’s tenure as CEO has been characterised by several key strategic shifts, including deeper penetration of the US market, a move from injections to tablets, and a drive towards digitalisation and efficiency. This has borne fruit in the sense that profits soared from DKK 270m (USD 39.6m) in 2016 to DKK 335m in 2022, with revenues jumping from DKK three billion to DKK 4.5 billion, representing a revenue growth of 50 percent, operating growth of 10 percent, and bottom-line results growth of 24 percent.

Being a CEO through the bursting of the dotcom bubble, the 2008 financial crisis, many geopolitical problems, and now the COVID pandemic; I have learned that while crises come and go, the fundamentals remain the same

Carsten Hellmann

Speaking to PharmaBoardroom at the end of 2021, Hellmann mused on what his legacy at ALK might be. “When I am 80 years old, I would like to be able to look back and say I played a part in building a big Danish company that conducted a lot of R&D and created many jobs,” he stated. “I was part of the Chr. Hansen story, which we turned around to become a great Danish company, and performed similar jobs at Merial and on the executive committee of Sanofi.”

“ALK is a 100-year-old company and I would like it to last for many more hundreds of years. Being a CEO through the bursting of the dotcom bubble, the 2008 financial crisis, many geopolitical problems, and now the COVID pandemic; I have learned that while crises come and go, the fundamentals remain the same. My objective is to make a sustainable, honest, and true company that serves a genuine purpose. If we can help people with allergies, then the company will flourish. To do that, we need to have the right products, the R&D, culture, and people.”