Just six months on from its Aim debut, pharmaceutical supplier and developer Quantum Pharma (QP.) has declared a maiden dividend worth 0.25p a share. As a result of raising £106m on London's junior market last December, Quantum's net debt shrank by four-fifths from £49.7m to just £9m at the end of January. Now chief executive Andrew Scaife says the company "won't sit on cash" even as it pursues more acquisitions and develops products in house.
Quantum's in-house development capacity was bolstered by last year's Colonis acquisition, as well as April's deal to buy the Lamda group of companies for €9.7m (£6.89m) . Quantum has been busy adding to Colonis's pipeline of future products, and the Lamda deal helped it almost double in size. There are now 60 products in the works, and with Lamda's added development facilities Quantum can get these products onto the market faster. Mr Scaife said various manufacturing options were under consideration, although at some point he hopes these facilities will be brought in house as well.
Analysts at N+1 Singer expect pre-tax profits of £12.5m for the current financial year, giving EPS of 7.5p, up from £6.8m and 9.4p respectively.
| QUANTUM PHARMA (QP.) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 137p | MARKET VALUE: | £171m | |
| TOUCH: | 136-137p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 137p | LOW: 91p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 0.2% | PE RATIO: | 105 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 41p* | NET DEBT: | 18% | |
| Year to 31 Jan | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012** | 38.3 | 1.9 | na | na |
| 2013** | 48.3 | -1.6 | na | na |
| 2014 | 53.5 | -2.6 | -3.8 | 0.0 |
| 2015 | 61.7 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 0.25 |
| % change | +15 | +142 | +134 | - |
Ex-div: 16 Jul Payment: 7 Aug *Includes intangible assets of £57.5m, or 46p a share **Pre-IPO figures | ||||
