Evotec's Boardroom Shuffle Meets Activist Demands Ahead of Make-or-Break Earnings

Evotec prepares for Q1 results amid activist MAK Capital's push for a spin-off, board changes, and cost-cutting as stock slides 32%.

Evotec is navigating a delicate balancing act as it prepares to release first-quarter results on May 6, with an activist investor pushing for radical structural change and the company simultaneously reshaping its boardroom. The Hamburg-based biotech has struck a cooperation agreement with MAK Capital, a fund holding roughly 5 percent of voting rights, while also nominating two new supervisory board members for the annual general meeting scheduled for June 11.

Dr. Wolfgang Hofmann, a former Novartis and Fresenius executive, will stand for election as an independent supervisory board member. The company also plans to expand the board from six to seven seats, with Dieter Weinand — previously president, CEO, and chairman of Bayer Pharmaceuticals AG — proposed as the new chairman. Weinand will succeed Iris Löw-Friedrich, whose term expires by rotation. The governance overhaul comes as MAK Capital, which according to the secondary source holds around 7 percent of Evotec, has been agitating for a spin-off of the company's U.S. biologics unit, Just – Evotec Biologics.

The activist fund values that division at more than €1 billion — a figure that towers over Evotec's entire market capitalization of roughly €800 million. The argument has teeth: while the legacy drug-discovery business saw revenues slide 13.5 percent, Just – Evotec Biologics posted 39 percent growth to €259.4 million and stands as the group's only profitable segment. MAK has also criticized the pace of the ongoing restructuring, arguing that meaningful margin improvements are being pushed out to 2027 or later.

Evotec's internal cost-cutting program, dubbed "Horizon," aims to shrink the company's site network from 14 to 10 locations and eliminate roughly 800 jobs. Management expects annual savings of €75 million once fully implemented. For the current fiscal year, the company has guided for revenue between €700 million and €780 million, with adjusted EBITDA forecast in a range of zero to €40 million.

A near-term cash injection should provide some breathing room. The sale of portfolio company Tubulis to Gilead Sciences is expected to deliver an upfront payment of roughly $100 million in the second quarter. That liquidity buffer will be closely watched as the company also navigates a change in its finance leadership — a sensitive move so close to the earnings release.

The stock currently trades at around €5.00, down roughly 32 percent from a year ago and nearly 40 percent below its 52-week high of €8.32. The May 6 webcast, where management will discuss first-quarter results and the outlook, represents the first real test of whether the restructuring is gaining traction. If the numbers show progress, MAK Capital's criticism may lose some of its sting. If not, pressure will only intensify ahead of the June shareholder meeting, where both the boardroom nominees and the activist's broader demands will be put to a vote.