Q1 miss is no major reason to worry

A weaker start to 2023 shouldn’t be a concern and, given that the full-year guidance has been maintained, Virbac should be able to compensate in the subsequent quarters. Both its segments are well positioned to achieve healthy medium-to-long term growth, which should find impetus from the ongoing R&D investment and Chinese expansion plans. Moreover, Dechra’s (the firm’s peer) potential takeover at a high premium to its undisturbed valuation bodes well for Virbac’s ongoing re-rating.

2022 ended on a high note but soft 2023 guidance maintained

Q4 22 sales exceeded expectations and both segments contributed healthily, with CA being the dominant growth engine. FPA however was somewhat restrained by external factors. While the 2022 margin is now expected to come in at the upper-end of the guidance, the soft 2023 outlook was maintained. Overall, the Q4 and full-year sales performance was better than that of French peer Vetoquinol. Looking beyond the current macroeconomic uncertainties, we remain confident of Virbac’s long-term business fu

Q3 a victim of tough comps and near-term concerns

Virbac’s Q3 sales were impacted by tough comps in the companion animals (CA) segment and an adverse regulatory event in the food producing animals segment. While geopolitical uncertainties and rising inflation are near-term risks, which probably also influenced the moderation in the 2022 guidance, the underlying potential of the focus markets remains intact. And despite the firm’s smaller scale vis-à-vis competitors, a net cash position implies that there’s ample room to withstand operational ch

A promising animal healthcare play

Virbac is a French firm specialising in animal healthcare markets. Robust R&D, better growth and margin profile of the CA segment, long-term focus on pet care and vaccines (strong potential areas), expansion plans in promising US and Chinese markets, and strong/sacrosanct growth drivers for the overall AH market support the firm’s investment case. While ongoing market challenges can pose near-term (margin) challenges, the underlying balance sheet cushion is a comforting/valuable positioning. Hen

Initial Equity Trading Comments - 15 May 2023

Kromek - Placing raises £7m with Open Offer of up to £1m

Kromek raised £7m (with up to £1m via an Open Offer) to strengthen the balance sheet and provide the working capital for the CT programme to bridge the gap before supply agreements with recently announced Tier 1 and Tier 2 OEMs commence in earnest. As the only independent commercial scale manufacturer of the next-generation detector (CZT) for use in CT and SPECT imaging systems, Kromek is actively engaged with 9 OEMs (both Tier 1 and Tier 2), with 3 agreements having now been signed (FC estimate

LIBERUM: Aptamer* - Prelims supports growth projections

LIBERUM: Aptamer* - Initiation - Build better binders

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 19 May 23

19th May 2023 @HybridanLLP Status of this Note and Disclaimer This document has been issued to you by Hybridan LLP for information purposes only and should not be construed in any circumstances as an offer to sell or solicitation of any offer to buy any security or other financial instrument, nor shall it, or the fact of its distribution, form the basis of, or be relied upon in connection with, any contract relating to such action. This document has no regard for the specific investment objectiv

Vetting the opportunity

Monday''s trading update caused the shares to drop 13%, leaving c28% upside on the possible all-cash offer price by EQT, set at 4,070p per share. While the market seems sceptical on the deal going through (outcome expected by June 2), we believe EQT will proceed and most likely on unchanged terms. We turn opportunistic and upgrade the shares to outperform. Destocking and European slowdown behind the trading update Destocking in the USA went deeper than expected by a couple of weeks, with inven

Oncimmune (ONC LN) - Successful divestment & debt refinancing enhances potential for value growth

This morning Oncimmune announced the successful divestment of its lung cancer diagnostic (EarlyCDT®) business to US cancer detection specialist Freenome Holdings Inc., for £13m in cash. Sale proceeds have been used to pay down almost 50% of outstanding debt principal. The remaining €6.0m of debt has been refinanced. Oncimmune is now focused solely on its ImmunoINSIGHTS™ discovery business. In a separate deal, Freenome has purchased ImmunoINSIGHTS™ services worth at least €1.14m per year for a pe

ReNeuron Group Prelims

Preliminary FY 2023 results from ReNeuron Group plc (RENE.L) highlight its transition via restructuring from a clinical-stage drug developer to a drug delivery platform based on its exosome technologies. As such, clinical trial spend is being minimised to cover legacy obligations only and in future will be conducted instead by partners, such as Fosun Pharma. The generation of data validating its CustomEx™ exosome platform to enable partnering and licensing transactions can be completed more cost

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 25 May 23

25th May 2023 @HybridanLLP Status of this Note and Disclaimer This document has been issued to you by Hybridan LLP for information purposes only and should not be construed in any circumstances as an offer to sell or solicitation of any offer to buy any security or other financial instrument, nor shall it, or the fact of its distribution, form the basis of, or be relied upon in connection with, any contract relating to such action. This document has no regard for the specific investment objectiv

Funding the opportunity in medical imaging

On 18 April Kromek announced a major seven-year agreement with a Tier 1 OEM to develop and incorporate its CZT-based detectors in the OEM’s advanced medical imaging scanners, and further deals have since followed. In order to fund these opportunities, on 5 May the Group announced a fund-raise of £8m (gross). It is our assumption that the Tier 1 OEM segment targeted is the CT scanner market. This was worth an estimated US$6.7bn in 2022 and, at a 5.6% CAGR, is expected to reach US$9.92bn by 2029.

Cenkos: Creo Medical Group Plc -- Lung: First in human completed

Creo Medical has announced the successful completion of the first in human use of its MicroBlate Flex device to ablate a lung lesion, undertaken at the Royal Brompton Hospital, London. The patient was treated as part of the recently announced human clinical study aimed at demonstrating the safety and efficacy of its MicroBlate Flex device for the microwave ablation of lung lesions accessed minimally invasively via a bronchoscope. We believe this procedure represents a significant milestone for C

Avon Protection - Termination of coverage

Edison Investment Research is terminating coverage on Avon Protection (AVON), Osirium Technologies (OSI), IQE (IQE), Kopy Goldfields (KOBY) and RhoVac (ROHVAC). Please note you should no longer rely on any previous research or estimates for this company. All forecasts should now be considered redundant.

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 26 Apr 23

26th April 2023 @HybridanLLP Status of this Note and Disclaimer This document has been issued to you by Hybridan LLP for information purposes only and should not be construed in any circumstances as an offer to sell or solicitation of any offer to buy any security or other financial instrument, nor shall it, or the fact of its distribution, form the basis of, or be relied upon in connection with, any contract relating to such action. This document has no regard for the specific investment object

Initial Equity Trading Comments - 10 May 2023

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 23 Mar 23

23 March 2023 @HybridanLLP Status of this Note and Disclaimer This document has been issued to you by Hybridan LLP for information purposes only and should not be construed in any circumstances as an offer to sell or solicitation of any offer to buy any security or other financial instrument, nor shall it, or the fact of its distribution, form the basis of, or be relied upon in connection with, any contract relating to such action. This document has no regard for the specific investment objectiv