A glance at the half-year numbers from intellectual property group Allied Minds (ALM) does not provide much of a true picture of the steady progress the company is making in developing new technologies. A fall in the top line once again resulted from lower product revenue in RF Biocidics, while a 29 per cent increase in research and development spending widened group losses.
But Allied Minds is involved in some intriguing projects, including a joint venture with US pharma giant Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS). The period saw the group secure investments of $80m in a new subsidiary known as ABLS Capital, which aims to bring 10 new products into BMS's clinical trials pipeline. BMS will pay out for each new drug developed, and according to chief executive Chris Silva, just two of these "sizeable payments" would see the subsidiary break even.
There was also good news for drug discovery company SciFluor, which was granted IP protection in February and applied for a new drug application in July. What's more, three subsidiaries have raised $99.2m of capital from third-party investors. With a boost from financing at Federated Wireless, of which Allied Minds owns nearly three-quarters, the value of the group's ownership in its subsidiaries remained largely unchanged from its year-end value of $536m.
ALLIED MINDS (ALM) | ||||
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ORD PRICE: | 385p | MARKET VALUE: | £830m | |
TOUCH: | 385-387p | 12-MONTHHIGH: | 541p | LOW: 239p |
DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | na | |
NET ASSET VALUE: | 57ȼ | NET CASH: | $163m |
Half-year to 30 Jun | Turnover ($m) | Pre-tax profit ($m) | Earnings per share (ȼ) | Dividend per share (ȼ) |
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2015 | 1.48 | -39.9 | -14 | nil |
2016 | 1.29 | -52.2 | -19 | nil |
% change | -13 | - | - | - |
Ex-div: na Payment: na £1=$1.32 |