Omnicare to cut employee pay - Business Courier of Cincinnati:

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Regional vice presidents and area managers will take a 5percenr hit, according to an employee memo obtained by the Businessd Courier. The decreases, effective July 19, will be 2 percentt for pharmacists and operations managers and 4 percen t for otherpharmacy employees. Other staff reductions and salary reductione of 5 percent are being implementeed at corporate and otherbusiness units, accordiny to the memo. No reason was A company spokeswoman was not immediately availablefor comment. Omnicarse (NYSE: OCR), headquartered in Covington, provides pharmacy and relatedc services forthe long-term care industry. Omnicare CEO Joel Gemunder’sz own total pay doubled to $13.
7 millionh last year, thanks in part to a $5.1 million cash bonusx for “restoring growth and improving following “two years of volatility” caused by Medicare rule Gemunder had the largest of five cash awards giveh to company executives in late March, according to Omnicare’e proxy statement to shareholders, filed with the U.S. Securitiesd and Exchange Commission. Four executives split another $3.2 million in cash including $1.2 million to Patricl Keefe, executive vice president and chiefoperatinvg officer. The bonus brought Gemunder’ws cash-based pay to $7.7 million.
At the company’s annual shareholdedr meeting in May, Gemunder said the company has a big advantagee even in adown economy. “We operat e in an industry strongly supported by demographic trendsa well intothe future,” he said, addinb that the company’s institutional pharmacty business is “for the most part not subject to substantiakl variation in consumer demand.” In a year in whicj the stock market lost about 40 percentg of its value, Omnicare shares finished up 22 at $27.31. It had strong earnings, too, reporting 2008 net incomr of $156.1 million, or $1.312 per share. Revenues grew to $6.3 billionn from $6.2 billion.
Gemunder said efforts to keep costs down, retain customers and capitalize on economies of scalew and strong cash flow should help Omnicare tocontinuw growth. The company started 2009 with a profitable first quarter, earning 64 cents a share, excludingt several one-time charges for restructuring and legao issues. The company generater $74.7 million in adjusted net incomde on revenueof $1.6 billio n for the quarter ended Marcuh 31.