New CEO of GlaxoSmithKline, Philip Hampton.

GlaxoSmithKline PLC has a new chairman, Philip Hampton, experienced with troublesome companies and reviving their capacities. He is well known for rigid cuts, especially in management core, so current Chief Executive Officer Andrew Witty might be facing the end of his career at Glaxo.

After a bribery fine of 489 million dollars in China and slow US sales these are just some of the reasons Witty is already facing criticism for his work in Britain’s largest drug maker. Some shareholders already see him stepping down but are giving him the rest of the year to deliver better results.

Hampton’s resume shows nothing but success with companies on the edge. He was in charge of Royal Bank of Scotland Group where he performed the UK’s biggest bank bailout ever with over 90,000 job cuts. Also, as chairman at J Sainsbury he oversaw a massive turnaround operation.

After the release of the first quarter report at Glaxo the companies image with investors is not looking too good. Glaxo is trailing 11 other pharmaceutical companies, its stock has dropped 7 percent and not many consider the company a buy. Bringing Hampton in was “a must” thing to do in their current situation, replacing Christopher Gent. The new chairman already boosted shares of Glaxo 2 percent on the London Stock Exchange.

Right now Glaxo is going through the biggest reorganization it has seen since its merge 15 years ago. Witty sold the company’s cancer drug division to Navartis AG in exchange for their Swiss vaccine business. This way they are stepping away from drug development and focusing on a more predictable income.

Hampton’s former partners see him as a very pragmatic man that never takes anything rashly and warned Witty to ensure he makes smart decisions and has a solid plan to show Hampton he is a worthy asset to Glaxo, otherwise he can say goodbye to his CEO position.

Justin King who worked as CEO of Sainsburys under Hampton predicts that in the next 18 months at least three directors will leave Glaxo due to changes he will make at the company. He described Hampton as a down to earth man, but with a huge appetite for challenge and that is the reason why he likes working in companies that come off track.

Profits of the company are still tied to Advair, an asthma drug, while two other respiratory medicines, Breo and Anoro still show no results. The company is also thinking about reissuing their HIV medicine even though there are some compounds that could replace them.

It seems like another large task awaits Hampton however if he is successful this following year, Glaxo could be his new triumph making investors very happy.