Horizon Discovery (HZD) has been busy since its IPO in March 2014. The research provider bought two companies last year for a combined total of £33.7m, but also snapped up Vienna-based Haplogen Genomics in January for another £6m. It's this impressive rate of M&A activity that helped boost Horizon's top line by 79 per cent last year - beating several analysts' forecasts. It also explains the 171 per cent increase in customers over the period.
Horizon has struck deals with 30 of the world's largest 50 pharmaceutical companies and serves customers in more than 50 countries. The US is its biggest market, but chief executive Darrin Disley says the company hopes to expand further into Asia this year.
This year, the group will develop its own e-commerce platform to sell its genomic research tools online. Here the company is mimicking fellow Aim constituent Abcam (ABC), which is not so surprising given former Abcam boss Jonathan Milner's investment in Horizon at the time of the IPO.
City analysts haven't updated current-year forecasts yet, but prior to these results Panmure Gordon expected reduced losses of £3.5m in 2015, giving a loss per share of 4.3p.
| HORIZON DISCOVERY (HZD) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 217p | MARKET VALUE: | £174m | |
| TOUCH: | 215-218p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 236p | LOW: 147p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | NIL | PE RATIO: | NA | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 73p* | NET CASH: | £18m | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011** | 3.5 | -4.0 | -1.3 | n/a |
| 2012** | 3.9 | -5.6 | -1.5 | n/a |
| 2013 | 6.6 | -3.0 | -7.5 | nil |
| 2014 | 11.9 | -6.1 | -9.2 | nil |
| % change | +79 | - | - | - |
Ex-div: na Payment: na *Includes intangible assets of £32.9m, or 41p a share **Pre-IPO figures | ||||
