Benchmark Share Discussion Threads

[painter] 10/1/2014 08:10

Is there a lock-in period on the major holders after the IPO? Holding with a finger on the sell button at the moment.

[modform] 09/1/2014 20:14

Sold mine today, very high p/e ratio now. Enjoy the ride, I didn't have guts

[painter] 09/1/2014 16:44

20 posts Hydrus it will get worse good luck!

[hydrus] 09/1/2014 16:03

Yes me too. A nice quiet bulletin board, little fuss but what looks like the foundations of a very good long term investment.

[painter] 09/1/2014 15:48

Hey good to have someone that agrees with me Hydrus I'm hopeful about the story here. GLA

[hydrus] 09/1/2014 15:11

Sorry painter missed your post saying exactly that

[hydrus] 09/1/2014 15:07

Pretty much any buying seems to boost the share price. Perhaps very limited supply?

[hydrus] 03/1/2014 14:13

Looking very solid again.

[exbroker] 24/12/2013 11:52

I was not sure how to value it at 64p, still not sure but enjoying the ride.

[painter] 24/12/2013 10:46

Lack of available stock here. Great for those holding,

[praipus] 23/12/2013 22:26

EXI wow and ouch normal for anything Russian:) CAM wow the cash! See what you mean. BMK so far so good:)

[praipus] 23/12/2013 10:53

Seasons Greatings Exbroker, curious venue for you, may I ask what else is in your portfolio?

[exbroker] 21/12/2013 16:59

I hold having seen the management on the road show, this is a bit on the edge of my comfort zone, being better with things I can hit with a hammer!
The management are committed and seem honest and unusually nice guys, lets hope we all get rich together.I have not sold any as they did spend a lot of time on the presentation talking about the drug development pipelines.One for the tin chest at the end of the bed, check again in 3 years.

[cupra kid] 20/12/2013 10:02

Steady as she goes...

[cupra kid] 19/12/2013 16:35

Looks like a good outfit with good growth potential. I've taken an initial purchase @ 75p with a medium term view. Seems like a few others did this afternoon too.

Thanks Steg for highlighting on the Zulu thread.

[praipus] 19/12/2013 15:01

Tracking all the Slaters holdings via RNS on the WAM thread and chart's in post 70

[stegrego] 19/12/2013 12:56

Slater and Hargreaves both have over 3% here.

[hydrus] 18/12/2013 18:54

Looks like an excellent company and not too expensive considering track record.

[simon gordon] 18/12/2013 18:02

Admission Document:

Animal Health is the Group's largest division with revenues of £25.9 million in the year ended 30 September 2013. For the year ended 30 September 2013 excluding consolidation adjustments, Animal Health represented 83 per cent. of the Group's turnover (2012: 80 per cent.) and 95 per cent. of the Group's gross profit (2012: 91 per cent.). The main product of the Animal Health Division Salmosan, accounted for 63 per cent. of the division's turnover for the year ended 30 September 2013 (source: unaudited management sales data).

Fish Vet Group

FVG's product offering comprises two proprietary products, Salmosan and Virasure. Salmosan was the first aquaculture treatment offered by the Group. Salmosan is a drug designed to protect salmon from the infestation of sealice. Salmosan was acquired by FVG from Novartis in 2008 and under the Group's ownership its sales have grown fivefold driven by a combination of organic growth and expansion into new markets. The Group initially launched Salmosan in the UK and Norway in 2009. This was followed by Canada in 2010 and Chile in 2013. Salmosan is a mature product which is off patent and the Directors expect sales of Salmosan to decrease over time as a result of the potential development of sealice resistance to Salmosan and the potential introduction to generics in the market. The Directors are aware of the intention of at least one generic competitor to Salmoson to enter the market in the near term, once it has received the relevant regulatory authorisations. However, the Company's pipeline includes a number of additional products that address sealice infestation which are expected to come to market in the medium term.

Pipeline

Alongside its core products, FVG is in collaboration with leading industry players and research centres, developing a pipeline of 30 products, some of which are at a late stage of development or near market phase. The Group's pipeline includes vaccines, biocides, parasiticides and toll vaccines, with a total addressable market estimated by the Directors to be circa £350 million per annum.

Benchmark Vaccines

Benchmark Vaccines was set up as the vehicle for the acquisition from Novartis of the Novartis animal vaccines manufacturing site in Braintree UK in August 2012. This is one of the few EU, GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) approved toll manufacturing sites for animal health vaccines. The acquisition enabled the Group to establish a position in the manufacture of animal vaccines alongside its research programmes. This was followed, in March 2013, by the purchase of the BioCampus site in Edinburgh, a bespoke biotechnology manufacturing site which the Group plans to develop to accommodate the growth of the biotechnology manufacturing business. The Group is in discussions with a number of pharmaceutical groups regarding potentially significant long term contracts. The Directors believe that the expansion of Braintree, together with the BioCampus development, will establish the necessary infrastructure to increase manufacturing capacity by more than five times.

BVL currently manufactures vaccines for cattle and fish, with past experience of manufacturing vaccines for sheep, companion animals and poultry and its clients currently include Merck and Novartis, and Virbac through a distribution agreement with Novartis.

In addition, Benchmark Vaccines has well equipped process research and development laboratories on site at Braintree together with a team experienced in this work. This means that new products and technologies can be taken directly from the research bench and be efficiently and rapidly developed for manufacture on site.

The Directors believe that the animal vaccine and biological sector is strongly positioned for growth because:

● Vaccines provide a sustainable long term disease solution.

● Vaccines provide a core response to the withdrawal of antibiotics and environmental pressure on parasiticides use.

● Lower overall cost of treatment (prevention v cure).

In addition, the Group's vaccine business benefits from large pharmaceutical companies seeking outsourcing options for the manufacture of their vaccine products under long term contracts, the limited competition from GMP licensed toll vaccine suppliers in Europe and the high cost of entry driven by the high degree of specialisation involved.

Benchmark is developing a substantial and diverse pipeline of new products and technologies addressing significant needs in its target markets. Examples of these include:

● Aquaculture and food animal vaccines – the over-use of antibiotics as a clinical tool in human andanimal medicine has resulted in the rapid emergence of resistant 'super bugs'. These, especially antibiotic resistant gram-negative bacteria, are becoming a material threat to certain fundamental precepts of hospital medicine and to surgical intervention. An approach to addressing this threat is to preserve the remaining effective antibiotics for critical human health care whilst new preventative medicine approaches are developed. The Group is actively engaged in the critical animal health component of this work both through the development of new vaccines and vaccine technologies and also by leading the development of sustainable farming techniques which help manage out these disease problems without requiring antibiotics. The Group is planning to toll manufacture, or develop on its own behalf, more than 25 animal vaccines, of which the Directors expect the Group will bring at least 20 to market in the next 5 years.

[stegrego] 18/12/2013 13:28

Historic pe at Sept 2013 of 23 at 75p?

quarter mkt cap is cash?

4 years of 30% growth in profits.
Divi paying.

I guess this is pretty much a zulu, pity it didnt float a year ago, then would have been much cheaper!

[simon gordon] 18/12/2013 12:59

Admission Document:

The Placing of the New Placing Shares will raise approximately £25.5 million net of expenses) for the Company. The net proceeds of the Placing will be applied as follow:

● £9.2 million to fund the first phase of the development of the Edinburgh BioCampus manufacturing site, in order to increase vaccine production capacity and take advantage of the growing opportunity in contract vaccine manufacture.

● £2.6 million to expand the vaccine production capacity at the Braintree manufacturing site.

● £10 million to fund and accelerate the Company's product development pipeline including through expansion of partnership research programmes and the acquisition of new technologies and IP.

● with the balance applied to fund selective acquisitions, including the potential acquisition referred to above in the section entitled "Strategy".

[simon gordon] 18/12/2013 08:37

RNS - 6/12/13:



Benchmark is an international animal health, technical publishing and sustainability business. Its activities include the development, manufacture and commercialisation of animal health products with a key focus on aquaculture. Benchmark also provides consulting services, and scientific and technical information to industry participants across the food chain. For the year ended 30 September 2013 the Group's revenues and profit after tax were £27.54 million and £4.29 million respectively.

The Group has three operational divisions::

Animal Health

Animal Health is the Group's largest division with revenues of £25.9 million in the year ended 30 September 2013, representing 83 per cent. of the Group's turnover*. Through the Animal Health Division Benchmark supplies aquaculture health products, provides veterinary health management and diagnostics services and manufactures vaccines. Benchmark has a pipeline of 30 products in development focused on aquaculture including vaccines, biocides and parasiticides.

Sustainability Science

Benchmark is an international provider of research, advice and training in sustainable food production to international food brands, agri-businesses, retailers, governments and NGO's. Benchmark's activities include sustainable farming research and development, sustainable aquaculture research and development, supply chain consultancy assurance and environmental planning and technical services.

Technical Publishing

Benchmark provides online news and technical information to the global agri-food sectors with 13 online publications in three languages (Chinese, English and Spanish) and an estimated global base of 6 million readers. In addition, the Company's activities include online recruitment, careers and distance learning programmes.

The Company's main country of operation is the United Kingdom. The Group operates internationally with offices in Norway, USA, Brazil, China and Thailand in addition to the UK. The Group employed 157 people at 30 September 2013.

[simon gordon] 18/12/2013 08:06

Benchmark was founded in 2000 when Malcolm Pye, Roland Bonney and Ruth Layton set their vision to build a profitable business based on the growing need to create a sustainable and ethical future for global food production.

Changing consumer preferences, stricter regulation and outdated methods of operation were putting pressure on food businesses and supply chains. Malcolm, Roland and Ruth’s unique combination of practical, scientific and corporate insight – and decades of experience – meant they were perfectly placed to develop solutions to meet these challenges.

The company has been progressively built over the ensuing years through a combination of new business launches, organic growth and strategic acquisitions to enhance the group’s capabilities and exploit synergies to drive continued growth in revenue and margin.

Each of these strategic steps has brought into the group new expert management teams who have become shareholders and members of the operating board representing their individual disciplines alongside the original founders.

[godolphin] 05/12/2003 11:44

Press speculation, no firm offers. Thought it would manage more than a 6.5p rise today - I thought they were trading well under asset value and a bid would be a lot higher than todays price. Had these since the year dot - be nice to get rid of them soon.