The CEO of Cooper Medical, Mr Albert White III, will replace Weiss, who has been with Cooper for more than 40 years – including 10 as CEO. Cooper chairman Mr Thomas Bender paid tribute to Weiss in a statent announcing the change.“Through his leadership, the company has grown to over $12 billion in market value, built strong franchises and organisations in its CooperVision and CooperSurgical businesses and become a mber of the S&P 500,” Bender said.“His continued commitment to succession planning culminated in the decision to name Al as the next CEO. We are all highly confident in Al’s ability to lead Cooper’s growth and he has the full support of the board of directors.”The leadership news coincided with the release of Cooper’s first quarter results for 2018, in which revenue increased 18% year-over-year to US$590 million (AU$749.6 m). The increase was mainly a result of a 14% revenue rise from CooperVision which brought in US$444.8 million (AU$565.12 m) during the period, while CooperSurgical revenues totalled US$145.2 million (AU$184.5 m).“We’re off to a very nice start this fiscal year with solid revenue growth and very strong profits,” Weiss said.“I’m excited about our continuing growth within CooperVision driven by our 1-Day silicone hydrogel and Biofinity franchises.”Toric lens sales increased 14% to reach US$137.8 million (AU$175.1 m), while single-use sphere lenses accounted for US$116.3 million (AU$147.7 m) in sales, a 17% increase.
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