Morning Note – 27 March 2023

Bioventix - Interims – a strong start to the year underpins FY forecast

Bioventix delivered a strong set of interims, with revenues up 25% to £5.9m, adjusted EBITDA +24% to £4.7m and adjusted pre-tax profit up 26% to £4.6m. Due to a weaker GBP, translation of overseas revenues boosted revenues by c.9% (c.£0.4m), implying a still strong 16% CER growth rate. In line with its policy of maintaining c.£5m cash on the balance sheet, an interim dividend of 62p was declared (+19%), with net cash at period end of £5.15m. Revenue growth was well balanced, with troponin revenu

Rude Health - finnCap Life Sciences quarterly sector note

Probably worse before it gets better. As the bear market in biotech and healthcare generally continues to be deeper and more prolonged than any cycle before – and this has occurred in the US, Europe and the UK and for the first time also in Asia – unfortunately it is possible that it could get worse before it gets better. So close to the year-end, it is unlikely that the outlook for raising funds will improve in the very short term. Further, as companies report end-of-year results in early 2023,

Morning Note – 24 October 2022

Bioventix - Strong FY 2022 drives 18% FY 2023 upgrades

Bioventix delivered 14% adjusted PBT and EPS growth despite the end of their NT-proBNP contract and the resultant loss of £1.2 in royalties (13% of FY 22 PBT), with adjusted pre-tax profit some £1.5m (18%) above expectations at £9.5m. This was driven by 17% revenue growth in H2 (vs -8% in H1), indicative of a return to pre-pandemic testing volumes and the rising influence of troponin on growth; resulting in FY 2022 revenues +7% to £11.7m. Our analysis suggests that adjusted EBIT increased 14% (5

Morning Note – 14 September 2022

Morning Note – 28 March 2022

Bioventix - Interims – evidence of strong underlying performance

This was always going to be a tough comparable, given the NT-proBNP licence expiration. However, Bioventix delivered a very credible set of interims given the ongoing impact of COVID-19 on the broader IVD market. Revenues declined 8% (£0.4m), resulting in an adjusted pre-tax profit and adjusted EPS falling 4% (£0.15m) to £3.6m and 59.3p, respectively. Stripping out the NT-proBNP effect, the underlying strength of the business is reflected in 4% revenue and 13% adjusted PBT growth. An interim div

Rude Health - finnCap Life Sciences quarterly sector note

The smaller cap Healthcare index: After another year of outperformance, during which the AIM healthcare sector rose 10% in 2021 vs 5% for the broader AIM market, we are seeing a rotation out of growth into value stocks in 2022 (this also helped the large cap healthcare stocks rise 17% in 2021). Coupled with a rotation out of COVID-19 diagnostics companies, the AIM Healthcare index has fallen 24% in 2022 YTD (vs AIM -14%). The finnLife 50 index has also fallen, by 27%, with all but two companies

Morning Note – 18 October 2021

Bioventix - FY 2021 – normality returning

Bioventix reported FY 2021 results that showed an improvement in H2 revenue growth (+11% vs +1% in H1), suggestive of a return to pre-pandemic testing volumes and growth, resulting in FY 2021 revenues +6% to £10.9m. Adjusted pre-tax profit, however, fell 3% to £8.1m, impacted by c.£0.5m (-6%) FX movements. A 38p special dividend was proposed, resulting in a full-year dividend of 143p, up 1%. FY 2022 will be a transition year, impacted to some extent by FX headwinds (c.-5%) and the loss of c.£1.2

Rude Health - finnCap Life Sciences quarterly sector note

Summary: In this report we outline the investment case for three companies that we believe are primed for growth: Diurnal, Kromek and Oxford Biodynamics. We also include the outlook for the AIM healthcare sector and overall healthcare sector, industry and capital market indicators, key sector news, recent research highlights and a profile of all the companies covered by the finnCap Life Sciences team.

Morning Note – 29 March 2021

Bioventix - Interim results

Bioventix delivered a very credible set of interims given the impact of COVID-19 on the broader IVD market. Revenues rose 1% resulting in an adjusted pre-tax profit and adjusted EPS falling 7% and 9% to £3.9m and 61.5p, respectively. An interim dividend of 43p was declared (+19%) with net cash at period end of £5.8m. Vitamin D antibody sales/royalties were c.£2.3m (up c.4% on H2 FY 2020), with troponin more than doubling to c.£0.3m and the balance of its portfolio up c.8%. The macro outlook for

Execution of Convex deals key to forecast delivery

RBG delivered H1 adj. EBITDA of £2.9m (H1’22: £7.0m) and adj. PBT of £0.8m (H1’22: £5.0m). FY23 adj. EBITDA guidance of £10m-£12m (SCMe: £10m) is unchanged, supported by continued robust trading in Legal Services, as well as a strengthened deal pipeline in Convex, where management is confident of several transactions completing during Q4. Delivery of these is key to forecast delivery. With year end leverage expected to be 3.0x and the facility expiring in April ‘24, management has commenced a re

Begbies Traynor Group+ (BEG, House Stock at 114p) - Strong trading update, a good start to FY24F

Feedback from Digital Disruption Conference

On 12th September, Dowgate Capital and FTI Consulting held the third annual Digital Transformation Conference. Franchise Brands' Executive Chairman Stephen Hemsley and CIO Colin Rees detailed how the group is using tools to drive operational gearing and the way it is rolling out systems across the group following the recent acquisitions of Filta and Pirtek.

Artificial intelligence in UK biopharma and healthcare 11/09/2023

Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to accelerate at full speed, first by imitating the workings of a human brain and now it is drawing concepts of evolution, sometimes with synthetic data, artificially manufactured for training purposes or for privacy protection, and sometimes not even with human intervention. In this note, we examine how AI is being developed and applied by the NHS and UK mid/small cap companies for the benefit of human health and wellbeing. AI in drug discovery and devel

Morning Note – 26 September 2023

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 12 Sep 23

12th September 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 ob

Interim Results – Continuing to add diversity

DORE delivered a positive H1’23 (NAV TR +1.6%, 6 months 30 June) return driven by limited asset repricing (the fund’s discount rates were already fairly conservative) and attractively priced incremental acquisitions in Sweden (Hydro plants) and in the UK. During the half, the fund progressed plans to exploit the optionality in its Hydro portfolio and has highlighted the potential to add an estimated 290bps (range 135-445bps) onto the core 8% Hydro return. In addition, the fund agreed two Grid Se

Macfarlane Group+ (MACF, House Stock at 109p) - Protective solutions acquisition – upgrades

Records Management priced at 50% discount

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 27 Sep 23

27th September 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 ob

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 29 Sep 23

29th September 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 ob

LIBERUM: Ricardo: Progressing well towards the targets

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 28 Sep 23

28th September 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 ob

Time Finance - Timed to Perfection

Time has released a positive set of FY23A annual results and a Q1/24A quarterly statement. They both show the business continues to perform well with strong loan book expansion, profit growth and falling arrears. FY23A revenue was up 17% to £27.6m, PBT was up 281% to £4.2m which was slightly ahead of prior guidance of £4.1m. In Q1/24A, the gross book hit a new record high of £175.8m. Time looks extremely cheap given it is trading on an FY25E PE of just 5.6x. We derive our 1-year price target of

Morning Note – 28 September 2023