Elan shares soared almost 21 per cent this morning after the company said it planned to file its US annual report in the United States tomorrow and so avert a potentially crippling debt default.
It said the agreement to file the accounts, following weeks of negotiations with auditors KPMG, should remove uncertainty regarding Elan's future. The company's shares jumped 21 per cent to euro5.10 on the Dublin Stock Exchange this morning.
The company said the principal change in the restated 2002 US accounts was to reduce shareholder equity by an additional $46.1 million as of December, 2002.
President and chief executive Mr Kelly Martin said the filing would represent "an important and necessary step in our recovery effort".
"Our approach throughout this complex process has been exceedingly deliberate; this approach was designed in order to ensure that any open items were thoroughly reviewed by all the necessary constituencies before moving forward," he said in a statement.
Analysts welcomed the announcement, which they said should allow the company to get back to focusing on its product line.
"It's obviously postive news if it removes the uncertainties surrounding the potential debt trigger and also the fact that KPMG have signed off the accounts gives you some reassurance that there won't be any further restatement to the 2002 accounts," said analyst Mr Peter Frawley at Merrion Capital in Dublin.