Cheaper copycats wipe £813m off drug maker

ShareholderS in Indivior suffered another dismal day as the drug company lost nearly a third of its value.

The firm, which makes products to treat addiction to opioids such as heroin, warned that previous guidance predicting revenues between £850m and £880m was ‘no longer valid’.

It has been trampled by a competitor, Indian group dr reddy’s laboratories, which has made a generic alternative to its drugs.

Indivior warned this could cause it to lose £19m in the 2018 financial year. It has so far won a temporary restraining order against the firm, but losses could be greater if the final court decision does not go its way. It also said it expected to take a £38m hit from even more heavy levels of discounting in generic tablets.

Chief executive Shaun Thaxter said: ‘We are looking at cost saving opportunities, initially targeting at least $25m ... in 2018, to partially offset the financial impact of these developments.’ Shares slumped by 29.5pc, or 111.6p, to 266.5p, wiping another £813m off the company, which has lost nearly half its value in just four weeks.

Notwithstanding yesterday’s shareholder revolt, former Tory party treasurer Michael Spencer has played the market well over the past 18 months.

While TP Icap, the brokerage which he sold most of his stake in last year, plunged this week, Nex has continued to rise.

The two businesses have shared roots. Spencer founded Icap in 1986 and sold the voice broking business to Tullett Prebon in late 2016, creating TP Icap. The remainder of the firm, which he held on to, was renamed Nex, and he remains the top shareholder. Yesterday the City grandee made £3.4m from his 17.6pc stake, as Nex shares climbed 0.5pc, or 5p, to 1024p on the back of a ‘ solid start to the year’.

TP Icap, on the other hand, has found itself under a cloud since its merger. Spencer sold the majority of his 9pc stake in January 2017, just after the deal completed, and shares have since dropped by 42pc. his decision was vindicated earlier this week when a profit warning wiped 36pc off the company’s value in one day. Meanwhile, at pub group Wetherspoon, Brexiteering chief executive Tim Martin was having a much better day. In an update, Wetherspoon announced that likefor-like sales in the year so far were up 5.2pc, which caused its shares to fizz up 3.5pc, or 43p, to 1287p.

Martin hinted that his pubs would be bringing in more noneU produce, following a drive which has seen French champagne exchanged for sparkling UK and australian wine and German beer swapped for British and american alternatives. he described the eU as a protectionist bloc and said leaving allowed the UK to dismantle tariff walls, improving living standards.

The FTSE 100 fell 1.3pc at 7592 points, as IT giant Micro Focus dragged the index down. a renewed attack on trade with China from President Trump at a NaTo summit also weighed on miners and hSBC.

There were troubles for aIMlisted window manufacturer Safestyle, which has been trying to turn its business around as consumers have spent less on home improvements. It said revenues for the year would be ‘below market expectations’ and profit would swing to a ‘small underlying loss’. Shares crashed by 21.5pc, or 10.7p, to 39p. Building materials company

Low & Bonar also had a shaky day, as it announced underlying profit had fallen 50.4pc in the six months ending in May.

It blamed increases in raw materials prices but promised its ‘transformation programme’ was in full swing. Shares fell 10.23pc, or 4.9p, to 43p.