Puretech Health (PRTC) develops treatments through both its internal pipeline and a broad portfolio of affiliate companies. Both strands made good progress in the first half of 2019. The parent company’s collaboration agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim makes it eligible for up to $26m (£21m) in upfront payments and more than $200m in milestone payments, while affiliate company Follica announced positive interim data for its male hairloss treatment and expects to initiate a “pivotal” study of a potential androgenic alopecia treatment later this year.
New licence agreements in the internal pipeline led contract revenues to more than double in the first half of the year, reaching close to $4m. However, this was accompanied by a sharp drop in grant revenues, leading overall sales to come in below the same period last year. Profits aren't a given in early-stage pharmaceutical companies such as Puretech, but the group made considerable gains by deconsolidating two of its affiliated companies – Alzheimer's and schizophrenia drug developer Karuna, and cell therapy company Vor – alongside some of its other investments, pushing it to an $11m pre-tax profit.
A number of Puretech’s portfolio companies, including resTORbio and Karuna, have listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange, and last month management announced it was exploring a potential listing itself, which would see new common shares issued onto the US-based exchange in addition to its existing listing on the UK market.
Broker Peel Hunt is forecasting adjusted pre-tax losses of $136m for the 2019 full year, making a loss per share of 21.6¢. This is down from a loss of $75.5m and EPS of 15.9¢ in 2018.
PURETECH HEALTH (PRTC) | ||||
ORD PRICE: | 280p | MARKET VALUE: | £791m | |
TOUCH: | 277-280p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 307p | LOW: 148p |
DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | na | |
NET ASSET VALUE: | 124¢ | NET CASH: | $202m |
Half-year to 30 Jun | Turnover ($m) | Pre-tax profit ($m) | Earnings per share (¢) | Dividend per share (p) |
2018* | 4.98 | -16.1 | -3.0 | nil |
2019 | 4.39 | 11.1 | 10.0 | nil |
% change | -12 | - | - | - |
Ex-div: | na | |||
Payment: | na | |||
£1=$1.23, *Restated |