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hVivo suffers Ebola effect

Last year's Ebola crisis has taken its toll on trading at recently renamed hVivo (HVO).
April 20, 2015

The effect of the Ebola outbreak on London's healthcare companies has been hard to measure. But hVivo (HVO)­ - formerly Retroscreen Virology - has blamed the epidemic for last year's mounting losses. The company runs controlled clinical trials for third parties that are developing new drugs, and uses human volunteers to produce 'live' samples used in research. But the crisis forced several pharmaceutical clients to shift their focus to viral diseases outside of hVivo's area of expertise in respiratory diseases.

IC TIP: Hold at 300p

Because of this market shift, hVivo has turned its attention to its own, internal research programmes, with R&D spend of £10.7m, compared with £1.2m in 2013. But to do so, the group was forced to put plans for a new research premises in Chesterford on hold, and raised another £33.6m by issuing new shares last August. For now, hVivo is focused on coming up with research models for developing asthma treatments, but is also looking at similar models for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and influenza treatments.

Management reports that there has been "a slow return" to flu programmes in recent months, but admits it will take time to regain momentum.

hVIVO (HVO)
ORD PRICE:300pMARKET VALUE:£204m
TOUCH:293-315p12-MONTH HIGH:330pLOW: 231p
DIVIDEND YIELD:NILPE RATIO:NA
NET ASSET VALUE:90pNET CASH:£22.8m

Year to 31 DecTurnover (£m)Pre-tax profit (£m)Earnings per share (p)Dividend per share (p)
2010*6.0-0.5nana
2011*4.3-1.2nana
201214.4-0.41.5nil
201327.5-1.23.2nil
201418.5-22.7-31.3nil
% change-33---

Ex-div: na

Payment: na

*Pre-IPO figures