NEW YORK (Bloomberg) ? Tyco International Ltd. chief executive officer Edward Breen told investors he?s committed to the conglomerate after speculation he may be a candidate to replace Carly Fiorina as head of Hewlett-Packard Co.

?I commit to you and promise to you I am staying at Tyco,? Breen said today at a meeting in New York that was Webcast. ?So when you hear the next rumour out there, it doesn?t require a call to us.?

Tyco said on February 10, a day after Fiorina stepped down, that Breen wasn?t leaving the company. Breen, 48, has revamped Tyco?s top management and financial structure, helping to boost the Bermuda-based company?s shares more than fourfold since he took over from L. Dennis Kozlowski in July, 2002.

One of Breen?s goals announced in March, 2003 was to slice $3 billion in costs by the end of next year using productivity, new purchasing coordination and efficiency programmes. Tyco yesterday raised that target to more than $4 billion, said Naren Gursahaney, senior vice president for operational excellence.

Tyco, run from West Windsor, New Jersey, said on February 15 that chief financial officer David FitzPatrick will retire March 7 and remain an adviser through 2005. FitzPatrick, 50, will help oversee the transition from setting up controls and cost reduction to new revenue growth goals, Breen said yesterday. The company hired Christopher Coughlin, 52, most recently CFO at Interpublic Group, to take over for FitzPatrick.

Breen reiterated that the company may consider an acquisition in the second half of 2005, mostly likely in the health-care unit. That business, whose brands include US Surgical, is ?on track? for sales growth excluding acquisitions of five percent to seven percent in 2005, said unit president Rich Meelia.

Such growth was 4.8 percent in 2004, according to charts Meelia presented. The unit is boosting research and development, and expects its operating margin to remain at about 26 percent, though the unit is aiming for more, Meelia said. Health care provided $9.1 billion of Tyco?s $40 billion in revenue in the fiscal year ended September 30.

The company has added about $400 million over two years to bring spending for selling, marketing and research to $1.4 billion this year, according to the charts.