A 42 per cent slump in revenues and continued losses hardly sounds like a “bumper period”. But that’s just how analysts have described the past year for drug developer PureTech Health (PRTC). Investors familiar with this end of the healthcare sector will know it’s always best to dig deeper with these companies and not put too much onus on the headline figures.
To that end, it’s worth remembering that last year played host to several important events for PureTech, including a successful IPO on the US Nasdaq exchange for biopharmaceutical company resTORbio (in which PureTech has a 34 per cent stake) and encouraging data from clinical trials of weight loss product Gelesis (of which PureTech owns 21 per cent). Importantly, several key events are on the horizon, too, including new drug filings with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a separate obesity product from Gelesis and another for an ADHD product from Akili, both in the second quarter.
Analysts at Jefferies expect the group to finish this year with operating losses of $130m (£91m), equating to a loss per share of 24.7¢, compared with losses of $115m and 36.6¢ in 2017.
| PURETECH (PRTC) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 169p | MARKET VALUE: | £477m | |
| TOUCH: | 165-169p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 183p | LOW: 112p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | 19 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 76¢ | NET CASH: | $189m | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover ($m) | Pre-tax profit ($m) | Earnings per share (¢) | Dividend per share (¢) |
| 2013 | 8.5 | -5.3 | -7.0 | nil |
| 2014 | 2.2 | -76.2 | -51.0 | nil |
| 2015 | 11.8 | -56.3 | -21.0 | nil |
| 2016 | 4.4 | -83.2 | -21.0 | nil |
| 2017 | 2.5 | -70.7 | 13.0 | nil |
| % change | -42 | - | - | - |
| Ex-div: | na | |||
| Payment: | na | |||
| £1=$1.43 | ||||
