Ekf Diagnostics Share Discussion Threads

[wan] 22/3/2023 10:25

For anyone up to speed with EKF's Life Sciences focus on completing the significant increase in enzyme fermentation capacity, the following provides food for thought -

Liberation Labs
“Many deeptech companies say that VCs’ lack of expertise — and comfort — with backing capital-intensive businesses has stopped some truly disruptive companies from scaling, and meant those VCs missed out on potentially huge returns.”

This is excerpted from a great article we shared last week Freya Pratty and Eleanor Warnock at Sifted.

There are strong parallels to the #biomanufacturing industry, where the vast majority of manufacturing facilities currently available to novel protein/biotech companies were simply not built to cost-effectively produce these new products. As such, the costs are higher which makes it harder for new tech to get a foothold. This is above and beyond the fact that there simply isn’t enough fermentation capacity out there to produce anywhere near the targeted outputs of these groundbreaking companies.

Of course, we’re planning to fix this with our vision of a global network of facilities purpose-built for the needs of today’s biotech companies, which can deliver high-quality, cost-competitive, and domestically-produced proteins and other products.

Thankfully we have funders and partners who share this vision. The industry needs more like them.


Hence, EKF's Board remains confident in the commercial potential and payback of this growth opportunity. We will no doubt find out more on Tuesday next week.

[tongosti] 17/3/2023 15:16

Anyone still remembers this clown together with his "acumen" and "class" at 50p? Lol16p beckons, on the balance of odds.

[tongosti] 15/3/2023 14:20

Ever considered stand up comedy?

[wan] 15/3/2023 08:09

14th March 2023
EKF Diagnostics will be attending the 'POCT: The Power to Disrupt 2023' event in Nottingham on 28th March, where the future trends in point-of-care and rapid diagnostics will be discussed.

The range of EKF Diagnostics point-of-care medical devices, and EKF Link, our point-of-care device and data connectivity platform will be showcased at the event.

Find out more at

[tongosti] 03/3/2023 15:58

Wan, where art thou brother?

[tongosti] 27/2/2023 15:11

I remember you were a bit less emotionally detached during the top of the euphoria so hopefully you will put your bad call behind you and learn from your mistake, going forward. No such thing as failure pal - only feedback. Well done.

[faz] 27/2/2023 14:26

My point, such as it was, was that researching the products alone wont earn you a llving, as I do , through trading and investing. Emotional detachment, from the company and in regard to this site, other posters, is essential in order to make decisions that pay the rent.

[tongosti] 27/2/2023 10:47

Meticulous research is the one which leads to making (and keeping) a coin. The rest is entertaining read. Forgive me for being brutally honest but that's exactly what the bottom line is. We all know that. I hope Wan has learned never ever to play macho with Mr Market. Unless one's thesis is validated by price action, it is not worth the (proverbial) paper it is written on.

[faz] 27/2/2023 10:02

Wan, I understand you do meticulous and detailed research into the products that companies sell. YEt your reports invariably miss out elephants in the room - the failure of the Board to recruit a decent CEO, and financial mistakes. We now now told this in the trading update "The Company will recognise large exceptional costs in 2022..." THey've blown it, the best financial position the company has been in, with a key customer in Amazon, and money to reinvest. Also, in August 2020 EFK made a "strategic investment" of £5m in Trellus; well Trellus in its entirety is now only worth £12m so that money has gone. All I am saying is that EKF has a flawed Executive which is plainly evidenced once in a while. Recognising this, where I see it, helps me make exit decisions rather than risking me falling into a financially trapped position. Emotionally detaching oneself from our investments is a lesson most of us have to learn, not encourage. I'll look at this company again in maybe 9-12months.

[tongosti] 27/2/2023 09:41

A stock not being able to rally from a deeply o/sold position is not in a very healthy spot, on the balance of odds.

[se81] 20/2/2023 16:39

Nice bounce- some keenness in auction, UT highs of day

[tongosti] 18/2/2023 12:45

Wan - what effectively you’re saying is that your decision to hold all the way down from 80+ was a sound one. Wow pal!

Someone should tell you that anyone who surrenders such a massive (previous) advance does not understand what this game is ultimately all about.

Consequently, what you call “research̶1; is quite an entertaining read completely divorced from the key challenge of how to make a coin (and keep it in those rare instances when it’s indeed there, for s short while as you now know) in this game. Not me saying it but the cold hard facts of you doing so for years.

It’s sad you fail to learn from your own mistakes and keep repeating the same ones over and over but each to their own. Ultimately, it is flawed logic that helps set up profitable opportunities in the marketplace.

You right about something though - no one should pay attention to what you are saying.

As a matter of fact, the best anyone can do is to stop outsourcing the thinking process to anyone under the sun and rather start thinking for themselves.

Enjoy the weekend pal and please DYOR.

PS. If you’re down 60%, you will need (small feat am sure, LOL)+150% just to get back to break even. That’s cold hard numbers for you. Further, in a world which worships Buffett for having produced (a world class) +20% per annum, it shouldn’t be very difficult to see that you clearly fail to grasp the basic arithmetic laws governing the rules of this game. This instead should be the focus of your “research̶1;. As WB says "..rule no 1 is not to lose money - rule no 2 is look at rule no 1". Think about it pal.

[p1nkfish] 18/2/2023 08:30

They have a habit of ball dropping. It will take a while to prove they won't do it again, it does become a habit if repeated.

That's the main objection to jumping back in.

[chris16041] 18/2/2023 08:07

This company proved very lucrative for me in the past and I am considering whether to reinvest
I think the base business is sound but there are serious issues with regard to the management of the company. The management changes recently announced should concentrate minds but they do need to hire the right man for the top job
The entry point here is attractive and I am probably looking for reasons not to invest
Any views

[wan] 18/2/2023 06:35

I was out of the office yesterday afternoon/evening.

I finished typing up the following on Thursday when the shares were trading at around 26p. My intention was to post it today (or Monday subject to finishing off some tweaks and research), but in my view and even with yesterdays price action, EKF shares appear very cheap -

I appreciate that a reset was inevitable post the Trading Update, but despite considerable growth in the established core businesses compared to pre-pandemic levels, in share price terms EKF is back to a pre-pandemic levels when both the FY revenue in 2019 (£44.9m) and the growth prospects for the core business were materially less than they are today. On the face of what is known, this appears harsh, but others will say the market is correct, but most will also know that the market can over-react in both directions.

Obviously the main issue is the uncertainty as to what exactly the FY Results and the forecast for 2023 and beyond will contain, but the market is certainly factoring in quite a lot of disappointment!

In my view, it's quite clear that the delay in the transition to non-COVID contract manufacturing, and perhaps to a large degree, is intrinsically linked to the delayed installation and validation of the new fermentation enzyme facility. Put another way, the use of enzymes in molecular and forensic test kits is thus also delayed. There has also been some customer enhancements/changes to factor in (see my Life Sciences comment further below).

The delay in the transition to non-COVID testing at ADL, may, at least in part, also be linked to the new enzyme facility e.g. In next-generation sequencing (NGS) custom-formulating enzymes and master mixes are used in the NGS workflow. And ADL has been building/installing NGS testing capabilities. Other non-COVID testing now appears to be increasing though.

These factors are almost certainly why EKF stated that "Completion of the capacity expansion at the enzyme fermentation facility in South Bend, Indiana, remains the main short-term priority for the Group." Put another way, completion of the fermentation facility is likely to have a large impact in more ways than one!

EKF stated the following in their Trading Update -

3. Contract Manufacturing - Reducing cost base as operations shift into non-COVID-revenues

In the US, the Company's non-COVID Contract Manufacturing services continues to develop, focused on working with innovative companies in the areas of genomics and forensics to support their growth ambitions. In 2023 this division's focus will be on expanding this service line utilising the Company's asset base in the US and Germany.
(END)

Again I would flag the use of enzymes being used in the areas of genomics and forensics. In NGS sample and library preparation, you probably use enzymes at almost every critical step (source: Cytiva).

Staying with enzymes: what caught my attention some time ago, was the notable increase in the indicated fermentation capacity between the Growth Strategy Presentation (reported in June 2021) - comprising 300L 1,500L 3,000L 14,700L units, and at the Half-year Report (reported in September 2022) - comprising 65L, 300L, 1,500L, 3,000L, 10,000L and 14,500L units. So, the capacity increase may also be part of the indicated cost increase i.e. capacity increase and the technology/process enhancements. Importantly, the delays have not affected relationships with EKF's key customers that are looking to utilise the enzyme capacity and expertise, implying that the enhanced customer requirements played their part.

Given the apparent strong level of interest from a range of corporates, it will thus be interesting to see where the installed fermentation capacity eventually lands, and where the 2024 revenue forecast is pegged for the new fermentation facility, which previously had the aim of delivering $20m in revenues by 2024. Although growth in 2023 has been affected, it is notable that EKF still expect the full positive impact of the increased enzyme capacity to be realised in 2024, none of which was on the radar in 2019 (cue my comment above regarding the current share price reflecting prospects and revenue from 2019).

There are, from what I can tell, some relatively large players aligning with some of EKF's existing and new offerings, including contract manufacturing and the new enzyme project. Implying that EKF has the potential to become a 'materially' larger company in terms of revenue and market cap. Clearly though, 2023 looks set to be a challenge for the management (and investors), but patience could be well rewarded.

I am thus sticking with my view that the Growth Plan has suffered a setback and has not been blown completely off course, with the main ingredients and direction of travel still intact, and maybe even enhanced.

As always, please conduct you own research when making investment decisions as I, or the threads contributors, could be either wrong or inaccurate.

[tongosti] 17/2/2023 23:54

Maybe, but where's your risk stop (if you know what that means of course) just in case you need it?

[gerry pacemaker] 17/2/2023 18:32

Over 40 million shares traded today. Good entry level.

[tongosti] 17/2/2023 16:52

60% down and you still hanging on to your PM?! Wan - where are you old chap?

[gerry pacemaker] 17/2/2023 16:26

Mega volume today. Await an RNS to see what's the score. 16p? Are you having a laugh? Christopher Mills already holds near 30% via Harwood Capital.

[robow] 17/2/2023 16:23

quite a move. Where is everybody?

[se81] 17/2/2023 14:10

Also at a fairly convincing level if you profile the volume (biggest exchange since jul 17 coincidently around current price)

16p looks much weaker to me (as a support level) but time will tell

[se81] 17/2/2023 13:56

Massive volume.

[tongosti] 16/2/2023 13:13

Wan - have you finally bailed out or still holding on to it old chap? If the latter, what's the latest rationale?

[tongosti] 14/2/2023 10:29

No support line between here and 16p, on the balance of probabilities

[tongosti] 10/2/2023 09:08

Have you touched base with Wan?