Asterand managed to grow underlying sales 7 per cent to £9.5m last year, if you exclude licensing payments from Allergan and other one-off income which bolstered both revenues and profits in 2008. However, generating growth this year will be harder as cutbacks of research and development (R&D) spend by big pharma companies is likely to have a knock-on effect on demand for the company's human tissue supplies and research services.
Chief executive Martin Coombs explained: "Both GSK and AstraZeneca have announced massive cuts in R&D and this has affected ordering of product. While sales have grown - we'd obviously like them to grow faster - orders have been split into smaller packets and projects have been delayed." Mr Coombs thinks Asterand will face headwinds in the first half of this year at least. Post-period end, Asterand acquired US company Bioseek, which produces a computer programme to predict biological responses to pharma products for $1m (£670,000) in Asterand shares. The consideration could rise to $13m if Bioseek sales reach $10m this year.
Broker Cenkos forecasts 2010 pre-tax profits of £0.6m and EPS of 0.4p (a loss of £1.28m and loss per share of 0.96p in 2009).
ASTERAND (ATD) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 14.25p | MARKET VALUE: | £16.6m | |
| TOUCH: | 14-14.5p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 29p | LOW: 13p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | na | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 9p | NET CASH: | £4.1m | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 2.78 | -4.03 | -6.10 | nil |
| 2006 | 7.54 | -2.66 | -2.49 | nil |
| 2007 | 7.61 | -1.92 | -1.83 | nil |
| 2008 | 15.2 | 3.98 | 3.53 | nil |
| 2009 | 11.9 | -1.28 | -0.96 | nil |
| % change | -22 | - | - | - |
