Concordia Healthcare Corp. T.CXR.R

Cautious Here, Wall Street Journal Says Big Caveats Attached

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At Concordia International, even good news for shareholders comes with some strings attached.

The beleaguered pharmaceuticals company said Monday that it has disbursed the first installment of payments owed to Cinven as a result of a 2015 acquisition. That is good news, given Concordia’s declining business and surging borrowing costs. Shares were up 15% in early trading.

That gain barely puts a dent in the stock’s 94% fall so far this year, though, and it is far from clear the moment of good news will last. Concordia also noted in the same release it has terminated its contract sales force for the irritable bowel syndrome treatment Donnatal, and intends to “evaluate new cost-effective opportunities” to sell the drug.

Worse still, Concordia was removed from the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index on Monday as a result of annual rebalancing, due to Concordia’s plunging market value.

These days even the rare step forward for Concordia seems to come with two steps backwards.