Aortech Share Discussion Threads

[someuwin] 22/5/2020 09:50

Sorry, No real idea on timescales t0pgrader. I'm just going to keep holding (and sometimes adding) as things develop. Or until they get bought out.

[t0pgrader] 22/5/2020 09:42

>>someuwin when might you expect the company to lay out the timetable for CE marking / FDA approval? Thanks

[bones] 22/5/2020 09:41

Someuwin, good to remind us of that. Those are also the same vesting terms that apply to the options held by Bill Brown and John McKenna (albeit theirs are at 30p being the placing price at the time), granted at the June 2018 placing. Therefore, all of the active board members are completely aligned.

[parsons4] 22/5/2020 09:39

someuwin the visibility of progress is very important £3 would do me !!!

[someuwin] 22/5/2020 09:36

I'm more interested in the options vesting criteria...

1. 20 per cent of the Options granted vest after 3 years.

2. 30 per cent upon the Group receiving either CE Marking or FDA approval for one of its devices in development.

3. The balance of 50 per cent on the Company's share price being at least GBP3.00 per share for ten consecutive trading days.

...These options (with an exercise price of 92.5p) were granted in December last year so they had good visibility of progress and must have been confident that they will achieve these targets.

Which will come first I wonder? CE marking / FDA approval or share price of £3. My guess it that when we get the former, the latter will be well in excess of £3.

[semper vigilans] 22/5/2020 09:03

One would hope that if and when exercised, they would be placed sensibly without disturbing the market. Cash for the company too.

[landy90] 22/5/2020 08:56

Warrants
Warrants were awarded to Shore Capital (nominated adviser) in lieu of £50,000 of fees due in connection with the placing of new shares in June
2018. The warrant was priced at £1 and entitles the holder to purchase 166,667 ordinary shares at a price of £0.30 per ordinary share. The
warrant can be exercised at any time prior to the expiry date, which is 5 years post the date of grant.

From last years accounts, explains why one market maker is prepared to hold firm!

[someuwin] 22/5/2020 08:28

Won't let me buy many.

[greedy rooster] 22/5/2020 08:22

Agreed. They're going to have to let these go soon.

[cocker] 22/5/2020 06:38

We have said it a million times here alone, the ridiculous spread puts investors off. Yes sometimes you can get within the spread and quite often you can not. Quite right in what you say though, 90.5p was selling price late yesterday afternoon, so a tick up on any buys should happen today.

[bones] 21/5/2020 22:06

Judging by today’s trades, a few shrewdies picked up chunks of 10k+ shares. The MMs were in the market bidding above 90 in the afternoon. The 85-95 spread on the retail quote was not representative.

[bones] 20/5/2020 17:14

For anyone interested in Aortech/RUA and at a loose end with time to kill, you could do worse than re-read the posts on this very ADVFN thread from the start of the year. Type “3083” into the box at the top of the thread entries to kick it off. Or just click here!



There are plenty of reminders in the discussions we have had over the last 5 months about the progress and potential here that the market is ignoring. We started the year at 100p and end today at 90p. Go figure!

[nimbo10] 20/5/2020 07:59

Yes, well done, elegibility criteria for fund is as below.


Is My Business a “Pivotal Enterprise”?

If your business can support the economy on a local, regional or national level, and if your business plays a vital role in Scotland’s recovery efforts amidst the COVID 19 pandemic, then yours is a pivotal enterprise. You can receive the grant if you need cash flow assistance to continue or boost your operations during this critical time. This type of grant should be for immediate needs, such as trading operations and employee support to help with economic stability.

Your application is a subject to government approval, based on specific conditions within specific areas of concern. Primarily, you should be currently operating or are planning to operate if your business halted operations as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Aside from this, you should also be able to justify through the application process that your business has a significant impact in any the following areas:

Local economy – if your company has a substantial number of employees in a particular area, or it contributes to the socio-economic welfare of Scots in rural areas.
COVID-19 essential businesses – if you currently, or have the potential to, supply to COVID-19 related services and vital businesses, such as being a direct supplier to the NHS, being in the food industry, or being in the business of delivering essential supplies.
National productivity boost – if your business can give a boost to Scotland’s capacity through research and development, wage levels, export and innovation.
If approved, the grant should be used as working capital to augment any cash flow gaps you experienced because of COVID-19, such as for rent, salaries, utility bills, and other operating costs. You may also use the grant for business expansion in response to opportunities arising from the situation.

[nimbo10] 20/5/2020 07:41

Nice 25k buy on 18th at 90p, reason for uptick on the day.

[landy90] 20/5/2020 07:16

£150k of freemoney, well done the RUA team, and David Richmond sounds fairly positive on resumption of orders.

The PERF fund was limited to 150k per company and the success rate on applications was around 10% so the story is at least being recognised within Scottish Enterprise.

[someuwin] 20/5/2020 07:07

20 May 2020

AorTech International plc

("AorTech", the "Company" or the "Group")

Grant Funding for Subsidiary

AorTech International plc (AIM: AOR.L), the holding company of a group of medical device businesses focused on the exploitation of the world's leading long-term implantable biostable polymer (Elast-Eon (TM) ), is pleased to announce that its subsidiary, RUA Medical Devices Limited ("RUA Medical"), has successfully applied for, and been awarded, the maximum grant under a Scottish Government Covid-19 support scheme.

The Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund (PERF)

RUA Medical has received a total of GBP150,000 of Government grant support through the Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund administered by Scottish Enterprise. This grant will be used to support the working capital and ongoing business needs of RUA Medical.

David Richmond, Group CEO of AorTech, stated : "We are delighted to have been supported with this award of GBP150,000 through the Scottish Enterprise administered fund. As previously announced, order intake at RUA Medical has been impacted recently by the suspension of elective surgery in the US. We have been monitoring the position closely and note the resumption of elective surgery in the majority of US States and therefore anticipate orders from customers to resume in the weeks to come."

[bones] 19/5/2020 18:48

Fascinating material langland.

In the Abbott deal, it sounds like they paid up $250M before there had been any in-man trials?

In the Boston Sci deal, there is the story of Boston and Edwards Life Sciences suing each other across the world on patent infringements. Let’s hope they are as competitive if/when an auction ensues for Aortech/RUA’s HV technology!

Being a new technology that has all the signs of revolutionising the HV industry (replacement of traditional materials with more flexible, animal-free, and far cheaper polymer), the value could exceed expectations based on historic numbers. Particularly if Aortech/RUA has patented a “novel manufacturing concept” that “has been proven” (phrases lifted directly from 13/5/20 RNS “Trading update”).

[langland] 19/5/2020 18:33

One of the earlier posts opined that a takeout price of $300-500mn was the potential of the HV project. We can all make up numbers but I thought the following 2 links would help substantiate the sort of market AOR is targettng.



and a really cheap deal at $250mn....!



Now that the HV project has made significant advances, I think we are justified in looking at some big figures. It does somewhat make a mockery of our sub £15mn mkt cap.

[langland] 19/5/2020 10:56

There has been a number of informative posts on the thread in the last 12-18 months concerning the potential of a new polymer heart valve. In view of the recent HV developments I have revisited some of these posts and one which struck me is repeated below...

landy90 - 19 Feb 2019 - 09:53:10 - 2390 of 3474 Aortech International – New Projects, New Partners, New Targets - AOR
Below are the two major risks to the business of Edwards (mkt. cap. 44bn$), but it applies to all the major heart valve companies, especially those using animal tissue. A polymer valve is both a major threat and a solution to the top two risks. Polymer valves could be the next feeding frenzy.

1 Business and Operating Risks
If we do not introduce new and differentiated products in a timely manner, our products may become more susceptible to competition or technologically obsolete and our operating results may suffer.
The cardiovascular products industry is characterized by technological changes, frequent new product introductions, and evolving industry standards.
Without the timely introduction of new and differentiated products, our products could become more susceptible to competition or technologically obsolete and our revenue and operating results would suffer

2 We may experience supply interruptions that could harm our ability to manufacture products.
We use a broad range of raw and organic materials and other items from third party vendors in the design and manufacture of our products. Our Surgical Structural Heart, Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement, and Transcatheter Mitral and Tricuspid Therapies products are manufactured from treated natural animal tissue
Some of our suppliers are located outside the United States. As a result, trade or regulatory embargoes imposed by foreign countries or the United States could result in delays or shortages that could harm our business.

[langland] 19/5/2020 07:30

“We understand that AorTech has been in dialogue with potential licensors of its heart valve in order to use trial providers, designs and models that large medical device companies regard as validation for this type of product.”

This kind of fits in with the comment in the latest RNS that the initial prototype valves that have now been produced from the novel manufacturing process are “available for evaluation”

Well done, bones. This is a very good point. I had not previously made this connection. It just goes to show how one needs to be very careful reading reports.In particular AOR's because they seldom waste words.

[bigwig] 19/5/2020 07:25

Well this seems like a civilised thread with good discussion. I am still in BATM, amt, just reduced my holding a bit after the recent rise. I’ve watched aortech but never invested in them until now. Fingers crossed, the overall market is a bit weird at the moment. Very difficult to predict.

[amt] 19/5/2020 07:03

Wellcome Bigwig it sounds like you did something similar to me moving from Batm to here although I missed out on what could have been large gains there but I think that was a bit of a bubble so its difficult to know when the peak arrived.

[t0pgrader] 18/5/2020 23:49

bones - many thanks for your answers. Most helpful.

[bones] 18/5/2020 21:11

Just to add, you should read the research notes that Equity Development have issued in the last three months. You can find them all here:



The paragraph on page 12 of the first one dated 19th February intrigues me as I don’t know their source and whether it is accurate:

“We understand that AorTech has been in dialogue with potential licensors of its heart valve in order to use trial providers, designs and models that large medical device companies regard as validation for this type of product.”

This kind of fits in with the comment in the latest RNS that the initial prototype valves that have now been produced from the novel manufacturing process are “available for evaluation”

[bones] 18/5/2020 20:11

T0pgrader, yes, it will take years for eventual commercialisation but that will be long after the technology has been brought out from Aortech/RUA for, hopefully, a ballpark $300M - $500M? Fairly sure that is the MO here. Then we have the grafts and patches business being developed nicely and the potential is there for that business to eventually be sold for nine numbers as well. Elast-Eon polymer is a new technology when combined with these medical devices. Yet it is an established technology with medical clearances the world over including a US FDA Masterfile.

Regarding the heart valve development, other contributors here will have a better handle on the processes than I. Perhaps they will comment.

My broad thoughts as a layman investor are:

1. Having announced a breakthrough with the novel manufacturing process (which I believe runs rings around any method previously designed), the decision has to be made when to freeze the heart valve design as it is necessary to commit the design for official trials. Maybe some weeks/months from here?

2. Official benchtop trials for the valve putting it through at least 200 million cycles (heartbeats?). This could be a good six months of activity to achieve that reqirement.

3. Animal trials, putting the valve into a young sheep for a period (possibly six months?).

4. Initial trials in humans (ones who need a valve and are otherwise fit and healthy and willing to participate).

I don’t know how much time is needed between each of these stages as it probably involves a lot of red tape liaising with regulators and the like. However, if the valve has got through the animal stage in good order, the technology may be worth nine figures to a big Med-Tech. That’s when they dive in.

The human trials may go on for some years to gauge progress but hopefully, by then, a large Med-Tech will be doing the work.

Clearly there will be a need for finance as the trials progress but, as they do, so the value of the company increases to reflect the progress. The plan is to start generating revenues from the grafts and patches business from maybe next year so that will help. Aortech does of course already make £500k a year from licensing Elast-Eon on other devices and that will hopefully increase in time assuming the deal with Medibrane is progressing well.

That’s how I see the theory at least.