US retailers including Wal-Mart remove ReNu from shelves as Bausch delays 2005 results again

Shops in the US have been removing Bausch & Lomb’s ReNu with MoistureLoc from their shelves following the eye care companies’ announcement that it was voluntarily suspending shipments of the product following a possible link with the outbreak of fungal keratitis.

Retailers such as supermarket giant Wal-Mart ordered outlets to stop selling ReNu with MoistureLoc despite B&L having only suspended shipments rather than recalling product.

And in a further twist to Bausch & Lomb’s long-running financial reporting difficulties, Ronald Zarrella, Bausch & Lomb’s chairman and chief executive (pictured), admitted that it was ‘unlikely’ that it would meet the April 30 deadline to submit its 2005 results.

He declined to offer any explanation in a conference call with investors this morning why this deadline, which had already been extended from March 16 because of accounting irregularities in Brazil and Korea, would probably not be met.

He preferred instead to focus on the subject of the conference call, the situation with ReNu with MoistureLoc.

‘At this point we cannot predict the impact of these events on 2006 because it depends on the cause,’ said Zarrella. ‘We don’t know how long it will take to conclude the investigation so that we can resume shipments.

‘And we haven’t yet begun to estimate, at this point, the ripple effect that all this negative publicity will have on other ReNu products or other geographic markets.’

‘We’re now working aggressively on brand-building actions and we’re going out there to start regaining market share as soon as possible.’

He added that ‘if the issue is not resolved in a timely manner, we'll take the product back,’ but declined to define ‘timely’.

The following details also came to light in the conference: