gretel
17 May 2018
Davy and Hybridan both positive today From Hybridan this morning:"@VennLifeScience (VENN) delivers a solid set of full year numbers. EBITDA more than doubling to €1.0m! In a very strong place to deliver on future growth.@HybridianLLP"And Davy now forecast €1.1m EBITDA for this year - not bad for a £4.3m m/cap company:[link] results: margin expansion drives EBITDA growth May 17 2018 DAVY VIEWVenn has started to benefit from business integration initiatives and infrastructure investments made in 2017. Greater operational efficiency has driven margin expansion and EBITDA growth. With a full service capability spanning early and late phase clinical projects, we think there is scope to develop new business lines and further increase margins. Additionally, management focus on M&A opportunities has the potential to accelerate growth. We forecast FY 2018 EBITDA of €1.1m and remain ‘Outperform’."
gretel
17 May 2018
Encouraging results today The results looked mildly encouraging. Turnover of €17.8m and €1.0m underlying EBITDA is certainly indicative of potential relative to a £4.3m m/cap if VENN's management continue to simplify and transform the company as they have been doing.Especially given they have €1.2m net cash to finance working capital and (from the tone of the narrative) an acquisition.I'd largely written Integumen off almost entirely except as a very long-term possibility, but I do like the look of its potential acquisition/reverse. Let's hope it actually completes (there's a radio silence on this at present, which may be a good or bad thing) - if it does this could just have a material effect on VENN.VENN's outlook is indeed difficult to discern, but perhaps there are clues for those looking for positives in the outlook given the focus on "improved underlying EBITDA", profitability and sunk investment costs which will hopefully pay off this year:"During 2017 our focus has been on the delivered improved underlying EBITDA in the business through improved operational efficiencies. Additional investment in systems means that we now have both the expertise and infrastructure to profitably execute new business in scale and our focus is now on the generation of new business opportunities. We have invested significantly in business development and engaged creatively with clients to develop deeper, longer lasting partnerships and our pipeline of opportunities is healthy. We continue to see an increasing number of opportunities that require the full range of services now on offer in Venn."
conor00
10 Oct 2017
venn priced to fail Venn is priced to show annual falls in earnings over several years ie go nowhere or suddenly develop massive losses. That might be right or wrong I really don't know. But with the stock market at all time highs, it seems Mr Market believes most other companies have hugely profitable futures while having certain opinion that Venn has none. Even if you believe that, you can still buy the share at a price that reflects such serious doubt, while if it turns out that venn has a profitable future you are certain to make money.
gretel
09 Oct 2017
Big move up today with barely any stock available to buy online. Just moved up another 0.38p on a single £1,400 buy 
))Could be quite a dramatic rise in store if there's now such a shortage of stock.
gretel
01 Oct 2017
Interesting new interview with a VENN operations manager re their clinical trial expertise:[link] talking investigator initiated trials with Venn Life Sciencesby Dave Gray 28 September 2017Behind every great medical device, there’s a great clinical trial. MTI editor Dave Gray spoke to Colette Donaghy, clinical operations manager, Venn Life Sciences, to find out what goes into making a device trial successful.""Yet despite these challenges, Donaghy says that Venn continues to attract innovators from around the globe. In fact, the group recently collaborated in a clinical trial in cardiology which turned out to be one of the largest investigator-lead studies in disease of the left main artery being conducted anywhere in the world.The project began when Venn’s COO was approached by one of two lead investigators, Professor Robert-jan van Geuns at the Erasmus University in the Netherlands. Both he and Professor Keith Oldroyd who is based in the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Glasgow realised at a very early stage that they needed help to conduct this large-scale investigator initiated study.........The first challenge was the administrative task of setting up the study in different countries. To do that requires knowledge of the regulatory pathways in each country.Venn has experts around the world capable of undertaking this kind of work.Donaghy says that this specialist knowledge is invaluable when trying to conduct trials on an international scale. “In each country we had to go through the relevant ethical review bodies, who looked at the study, checked that they were happy for it to be conducted, and that there would be no negative impact for the patient.”The other challenge for the client was setting up contracts. Venn needed to set up a contract with each institution, and in some cases with each investigator. The group uses a corporate legal adviser, which is essential in securing an agreement which protects both Venn, and the client.“There’s a lot to do when setting up an international clinical trial. Each country needs to be set up individually and the sites trained in the study processes. And if that’s going to be happening in different countries, then you need people who can speak the language.” Venn has sites in Russia, Poland, Germany, France, the Netherlands and the UK.The trial is ongoing, and Donaghy says that there is significant interest from clinicians in the eventual findings and the primary outcomes at 24 months.“This study will be followed up for the next five years. We will monitor major adverse coronary events and they’ll be classed into categories – e.g. bleeding, thrombosis, stent replacement, etc. We will monitor this over a period of five years, allowing us to look back and see why those things happened.“Currently the client is highly satisfied that we delivered the trial within the timelines that we were given, and that we managed to get full recruitment. This is one of the largest investigator-lead studies in this area that is being conducted anywhere in the world.”
gretel
28 Sep 2017
Venn looks cheap A 100,000 buy at 12.41p has caused a tick up.I note this morning's acquisition by Ergomed of PSR, "an international niche contract research organisation". They're paying €5.7m for a business with €4.7m of annual revenues and €0.34m EBITDA.VENN are forecast to make €18.5m revenues this year, with €0.9m EBITDA.On a PSR basis, this would value VENN at around €22.5m. On an EBITDA basis this would value VENN at around €15m.This compares to VENN's current m/cap of €8.6m.
gretel
15 Sep 2017
New research from Davy Davy Stockbrokers have produced a new note on VENN - client-only, but the intro sounds positive enough:[link] Life Sciences H1 results: Solid revenues; building on its operational capability Sep 12 2017, 080 IST/BST Company Report 5 page(s)Sectors: Pharma and healthcare COMPANIES: Venn Life Sciences DAVY VIEWVenn’s interim result reflects a business in the growth phase of its development. Infrastructure and systems initiatives are being implemented to improve profitability. The management team was further strengthened with the appointment of a new COO. H1 revenues and EBITDA were adversely affected by the deferral of a late phase project to Q1 2018, which needs to be reflected in our full-year forecasts. With significant scope to increase margins in a growing sub-segment of the healthcare market, we remain confident on Venn’s long-term prospects."
gretel
15 Sep 2017
RNS : shareholder-friendly options I for one will be extremely happy for the directors if the share price exceeds the 45p required for full vesting of the options issued to them yesterday:"The options vest in three equal instalments when the Company's share price trades at 25p, 35p and 45p for twenty consecutive days."Most options are exercisable either at the current share price or, in some cases, with no exercise price at all - pure profit.These options strike me as rather shareholder-friendly. And also an indication that perhaps the bottom has been reached.
gretel
13 Sep 2017
Bargain time imho My prior post stated I didn't think VENN would achieve Hybridan's forecasts this year - I reckoned on a €600k PBT rather than Hybridan's €1.27m PBT.Well whaddyaknow - Hybridan's new forecast is €0.77m PBT, with €0.9m EBITDA. So I wasn't too far off ))They "understand that the pipeline remains strong and should significant deals land in Q3 or early Q4 there remains the possibility of upgrades."VENN have:- €2.9m of cash (forecast to rise to €3.1m at the year end)- £1.25m of shares in Integumen PLC- trade on an EV/EBITDA of only 6, with sector deals being struck between 13 and 25- should have €18.5m of revenues this year- now more realistically forecast to make €0.77m PBT this yearPretty good against a mere £7.5m m/cap.
gretel
12 Sep 2017
Decent results today Nobody was expecting much from this H1, so good to see a small core profit, particularly given the project delay outlined today.VENN have approaching £3m cash, so another acquisition may still be on the cards.Not many specifics as regards H2 performance except a general optimism re numbers of clients, recurring revenues etc.Given the cash and revenues I'm of the opinion that VENN is very undervalued. It's hopefully a question of a contract win or two, a steady improvement in PBT and/or another acquisition to kick-start a re-rating.The MMs are fleecing sellers - down 9% on just £20k traded!
gretel
24 Aug 2017
Good news for VENN investee company SKIN today, receiving 3 new patents and trademarks in the USA and Canada:[link]
gretel
22 Aug 2017
Re: VENN very, very cheap against sector The fundamentals here are telling me that VENN is fundamentally undervalued. That will be the case even if VENN fails to achieve Hybridan's forecast £1.27m adjusted PBT, which I'm not sure they will.If VENN were to achieve only 50% of that - say a £600k PBT - if you combine that with the almost €3m cash pile, the investment in SKIN and the value of the core business then VENN is worth considerably more than the current share price.In a small-cap like this, one or two larger sellers can easily drive the share price down to silly levels given the propensity of others to follow them out on a drifting share price, the hitting of stop-losses etc. I believe that's what happened here.It looks like the share price has hit a bottom and is starting to lift itself off that bottom now. The solid H1 trading update and the confidence for the full year should continue this into and onwards from the H1 results next month.
gretel
21 Aug 2017
VENN very, very cheap against sector Interesting new note out from Hybridan a couple of weeks ago. This pointed out that Evotec's recent acquisition of Aptuit was on a multiple of 2.4 times revenues, and on 23 times adjusted EBITDA.Other similar deals include Inc Research buying InVentiv Health at 2.1 times trailing revenues and 13 times EBITDA, Thermo acquiring Patheon at 4 times trailing revenues and 18 times EBITDA, Pamplona buying Paraxel at 2.3 times trailing revenues and 25 times operating profit, Labcorp acquiring Chiltern at 2.2 2017 forecast revenues and 13 times EBITDA etc.Based on their 2017 numbers VENN trades on an EV/Sales of 0.32 times and 4.39 times EV/EBITDA.With £19.3m forecast revenues this year, and £1.27m adjusted PBT, a multiple of say 2.3 times sales would value VENN at £44.4m. This compares to the current £8.2m m/cap - which also includes the (now reduced!) stake in SKIN and the almost €4m cash pile.
gretel
24 Jul 2017
New Hybridan note Hybridan brought out a new note on Thursday envisaging a 30p+ share price on delivery of 2017 forecasts (against the current 13.75p).Their forecasts are:this year : €1.83 EPS, €3.62m cash pilenext year : €2.07 EPS, €4.03m cash pile"Solid H1 2017After a lacklustre full year results released in March 2017, the growing Contract Research Organisation providing drug development, clinical trial management and resourcing solutions to pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and medical device clients today provided a trading update for the six months ended 30 June 2017. The new financial year started well with the Company securing contract wins in January and February with a value of €5.7m. Total revenues for the Company wereahead compared to the same period last year at €9.11m (H1 2016:€9.06m), with the client and revenue mix well balanced and strong rates of repeat business.Moreover, we understand that Venn, has successfully introduced and delivered cross selling between early and late phase client bases.We estimate that the Sedana contract announced in November 2016 and the €5.7m contracts won in January and February this year will contribute €4.3m in fee income in the current year. The Company has a strong proposal book, which should begin to turn in to business wins now that the full R&D lifecycle proposition is up and running. In addition to this, solid first half performance brings confidence around full year revenue expectations.The sector continues to see growth, with encouraging trends in outsourcing likely to continue. We would expect that Venn continues to evaluate complementary acquisition targets which could at least in part be funded from its current balance sheet depending on size. The Company is well positioned to accelerate its win rate particularly with Biotechnology companies where its offering of a full lifecycle service combined with a customer-centric flexible approach sets it apart from the competition.The shares of Venn have slid by 11% over the past 3 months, and given this trading update and its potential to meet expectations for full-year results, it presents a potential buying opportunity for investors. Delivery of our 2017 forecasts should see a recovery in the share rating and we see scope for the shares to surpass 30p over that horizon which would put the shares on a 16.5x 2018 earnings rating.Cash and cash equivalents remained strong at €3.4m at 31 December 2016 and we are forecasting for FY 2017 cash and cash equivalents of £3.6m. With that said, a HY 2017 cash of €2.9m puts the Company in a strong cash position."
gretel
20 Jul 2017
Decent H1 trading statement Pretty good H1 trading statement, in particular expressing confidence going forward. Note the €2.9m cash against the £9m m/cap:[link] new financial year started well with contract wins of €5.7m secured in January and February, as previously announced. Overall, the Company has achieved total revenues of €9.1m (H2 2016 €8.84m) for the first six months of the year. Our client and revenue mix remains well balanced with strong rates of repeat business and we have successfully delivered initial cross sales between the early and late phase client bases. We have a strong proposals book which coupled with this solid first half performance provides confidence around full year revenue expectations. We finished the first half year with a cash position of €2.9m (€1.75m as at 30 June 2016)."
