Science Share Discussion Threads

[oregano] 06/3/2015 16:27

I have never heard of a company controlling supply of shares in this way. I don't quite know what to make of it. Good that MR wants to retain the listing and access to capital markets, but clear that PI's are of no interest to him. In reality that is also sensible, as we don't supply much capital and create noise. I guess if they manage to buy shares in at 113p as they did recently and sell shares at 140p SAG are generating value for existing shareholders. So all in probably a good thing.

[battlebus2] 05/3/2015 19:50

They will pay market price at the time.

[anumidium] 05/3/2015 19:04

Good H2. 3% yield is not bad. Was hoping for a special as well though.

Not a big fan of the plan to trade our shares in order to satisfy institutional supply/demand. I guess that is the outcome of the consultation around the tender offer but institutions should have to receive/pay the market rate like we do.

Expect to return to growth next year with the Oakland acquisition + the lower GBP/USD.

[battlebus2] 04/3/2015 13:55

Numis has just reiterated it's buy stance on SAG with a raised price target of 177 from 150..

[wjccghcc] 04/3/2015 12:25

There wasn't last year either.

[oregano] 04/3/2015 10:24

Strange there is no outlook statement.

[battlebus2] 04/3/2015 09:05

Westhouse this morning reiterates it's add stance with a target of 175p..

[battlebus2] 04/3/2015 08:08

Still a clear under valuation imv.. I also believe it's likely we will see a new institutional investor.

[battlebus2] 04/3/2015 07:56

Results out. As expected with the difficult currency headwinds.

Second half back to growth.

Cash balances worth 86p

4P dividend and a buy back of up to 10% of the shares in issue, this may be used to facilitate an institutional investor to gain a holding due to lack of liquidity at present

Still on the look out for acquisitions.


Summary

In summary, 2014 had a more challenging start than the prior year which, as previously reported, had been exceptionally strong. This was made more difficult by a rapidly deteriorating foreign exchange environment in the first half. However the second half of the year saw a return to organic growth in the core consultancy business, despite the negative currency impact. Through tight cost control, operating margins were above the Board's target and a satisfactory overall result for the year was achieved.

The integration of OTM Consulting, acquired in mid-2013, has been successful and the integration of Oakland is now in progress. The Board continues to evaluate corporate opportunities to accelerate the growth of Sagentia, although there can be no certainty that any transaction(s) will occur.

In the absence of a major acquisition, the Board has considered how best to deliver value for Shareholders and is proposing specific measures, namely a very attractive dividend, increased share buy-back programme and supply side liquidity. Shareholders will have the opportunity to vote on these proposals at the Annual General Meeting, scheduled for 21 May 2015.

[battlebus2] 03/3/2015 17:01

Good luck for tomorrow holders..

[battlebus2] 28/2/2015 14:10

[...][...]

Sagentia gets a mention here but i dont think the author has grasped the full story here.
SAG. EY 11%
Sagentia (SAG) may be the riskiest company in the list because of its relatively short record of profitability. The research and development consultancy has transformed itself from a jam tomorrow company to a jam today one by switching to a contractual model. It earns most profit in North America and Sagentia has indicated profit in 2014 will be lower than profit in 2013 because of the strong pound. It remains highly profitable though, and a braodening base of clients from across the healthcare, consumer goods and oil and gas industries, augers well.

[atholl91] 27/2/2015 15:45

Anum: Agree. Have never understood the reluctance to tender way above the market price if you think your stock is undervalued. Having run a fairly large public company and sat on the board of a big investment trust I've never heard a convincing argument against it.

[battlebus2] 27/2/2015 15:20

Moving higher now, still undervalued at 160 imv...

[anumidium] 19/2/2015 17:57

atholl91: they could offer a tender @ 200p. MR just doesn't want to do that - presumably he didn't intend to take part hence did not want to offer a big premium.

I agree with battlebus that this reduces any risk of delisting. I am not sure this is a big issue anyway given how much cheaper the shares were in the recent past.

[battlebus2] 19/2/2015 16:30

Thanks for the link Hastings..

[atholl91] 19/2/2015 16:04

why can't a tender offer at 200p for two or three million shares be done. Most will accept and it's tax efficient.

[hastings] 19/2/2015 15:08

hxxp://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Sagentia-acquires-Cambridge-firm-Oakland/story-26052324-detail/story.html

[oregano] 19/2/2015 08:34

Bitter sweet. MR wants his cake and to eat it, surely those shareholders would accept a tender at 1.60. Unsure if there is a technical reason why that can;t be done. Maybe MR would have to bid for the rest. Hopefully II's are pushing for a divi instead. Given the consistency of earnings, no reason it should be special.

[battlebus2] 19/2/2015 07:20

Great news this morning with an acquistion with cash and treasury shares, also the proposed return via tender would not recieve support at the current share price but other plans will be released with results on 3rd of March.
Special dividend?? Either way its good news to me and surely ends talk of delisting and allows the shares to continue their upwards trajectory.

[battlebus2] 18/2/2015 12:34

Great to see another tick up, mustn't be far from some news imv..


17 February 2015

We recently attended the 33rd Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. This month, Sagentia’s VP of Surgical, Alistair Fleming, reflects on some of the major themes and topics highlighted during the event.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, data proved to be a frequent talking point at this year’s conference, with ‘information liquidity’ being a key theme, but what does this phrase mean? In the past, a lack of data stood in the way of better care. Now the opposite is true: healthcare is inundated with data. We have electronic patient records, tracking data on patient condition, co-morbidities and changes in scientific flow to give just a few examples. With this new wealth of data the healthcare industry is witnessing the emergence of an array of new services. These services are designed to enable ‘information liquidity’: streamline workflow, make data seamlessly available anywhere and at any time through easy but secure, sharing and storage.

One example offered at the conference focused around the area of Bioinformatics. Illumina’s BaseSpace, which has been developing over the past few years and is touted as the world’s largest genomics cloud with 125,000 runs of customer test data is a cloud computing environment for next-generation sequencing (NGS) data analysis and management. BaseSpace is designed to be flexible, available in both cloud and onsite solutions. The aim is to allow sequencing labs to easily and securely analyse, archive, and share sequencing data. Researchers can then simplify and accelerate NGS data analysis with push-button tools. BaseSpace is gathering interest from both customers and collaborators, but there are still many developments planned for the system and, as healthcare data services advance, we expect the field of Bioinformatics to receive increasing attention at investor updates over the next couple of years.

The opportunities for liquid biopsies – non-invasive blood tests for tumour diagnosis – and the recent advancements in genetic sequencing and molecular diagnosis, were also highlighted during the week’s proceedings. It is now possible to learn a great deal about what is occurring in a person’s body by testing a blood sample, a significantly less invasive method of investigation. While developments in the non-invasive pre-natal diagnostic market are well documented (including our client Premaitha), the applications for this approach in oncology are truly exciting and could transform clinical practice. Indicative signs in a sample of blood may help physicians detect cancerous tumours located elsewhere in the body. The current methods rely upon symptomatic presentation and imaging followed by tissue biopsies, which are costly, invasive and by definition only pick up a relatively progressed disease state. Liquid biopsies would minimise the need for hospital admissions and biopsy surgery for the patient, and could also enable more early-stage diagnosis, potentially to be carried out at home.

Finally, with the increased IPO and M&A activity experienced in 2014, attendees at the conference were bolstered by the news that confidence has returned and investors expect 2015 to see even higher levels of activity in these areas. The recent merger between Covidien and Medtronic was still causing a buzz and demonstrates the possibilities that such synergies can bring to the whole care pathway. For example, companies might provide products for use by surgeons in the operating room, as well as supplying services to patients post-operatively. Through the pooling of resources, this situation offers the potential to spread costs among all of the suppliers in the care pathway. More intriguingly however, the combined group has the ability to redistribute cost and associate value derived at one stage in the care pathway with cost incurred elsewhere. This could have significant benefit for both suppliers and patients. Cost efficiencies would be achieved by the suppliers, which could then be passed on to patients in the form of improved procedures and outcomes.

In all, it feels like 2015 starts with much promise and buzz in the industry. New technologies are driving innovation not just in products, but in services and business models in ways that could fundamentally transform the industry in coming years. Given the pressures on healthcare provision, this is welcome news.

[oregano] 16/2/2015 11:39

either way, well placed IC for bringing some attention to this, you seem to have got the shares going.

[battlebus2] 16/2/2015 08:07

Through 130p looks like a great week ahead :))

[anumidium] 12/2/2015 18:46

Agree Oregano, a decent divi would help underwrite the share price.