Venture Life Share Discussion Threads

[qs99] 23/9/2021 08:00

While I have been critical on this board of VLG management, these results I think from headlines were well flagged last RNS, so should this "be priced in already"?

Appear reasonably upbeat about H2 etc? and Broker 9.9 pe for next year seems attractive.....

DYOR, not sure if I will buy in today or not yet

[rivaldo] 23/9/2021 07:55

Results are as flagged, so no surprises, and order books are up for the core business.

Cenkos this morning note that the cash-adjusted P/E is only 14.1p for this year, dropping to 9.9 for next year.

They conclude:

"Venture Life has announced its interim results for the six months to June 2021. As previously announced in the August trading statement, revenues were down YoY due to lower HSG sales and sales to the Chinese partner, though revenues are expected to grow subsequently, benefiting from the two recent acquisitions. H1/21 gross margin was impacted by a number of factors including supply chain costs and stockholding costs; however, the company expect margins to improve in H2/21E.

Despite the set-backs impacting H1/21A, with two acquisitions set to contribute in H2/21E and the financial capacity to make further acquisitions, we believe Venture Life is in a strong position to deliver future growth and we maintain our Buy recommendation."

[mallorca 9] 23/9/2021 07:41

I'm so sorry to say that after reading that I could not value this Company at more than £30m .... and that might be slightly generous.

[qs99] 23/9/2021 07:12

OK interesting update. IMO this is much more upbeat than the last RNS. If they can replace the Chinese distributer then maybe that can help them push a big market. Any other smaller deals also will help soak up the capacity it has. benefits from existing deals to come through in H2 etc....

Views?
DYOR

[thedudie] 21/9/2021 17:39

Think it will be dependent on current / expected trading or any indications they may give one way or the other. Oh and if they have identified an alternate route to the Chinese market with a distributor that is aligned and pays their bills.

[qs99] 21/9/2021 15:42

Actual results due out in the next day or so, anyone expecting any more shocks?

[rivaldo] 21/9/2021 09:02

Good to see Kelo-Cote's sales were up 62% year on year to £21.9m at constant currency per APH's H1 results this morning:

"Kelo-cote - scar prevention and treatment

Kelo-cote growth accelerated strongly in the Period, with sales up 54% to £21.9m (H1 2020: £14.2m), notwithstanding the impact of adverse currency movements. On a constant currency basis, sales were up 62% due to continued strong demand from China, reflected both in the growth of domestic sales and in significant growth in cross-border e-commerce ("CBEC") sales."

[sharetalk] 17/9/2021 10:16

Chill Brands Group (CHLL):



Revenues growing rapidly in the USA and will grow even more rapidly when they get UK FSA approval due soon to sell in UK high street stores and also launch into Europe.


May 2021 Orders just for Chill in USA = $1.0m (Trading Update, 17/5/2021)
April 2021 Orders just for Chill in USA = $0.34m (Trading Update, 17/5/2021)

"Following receipt of the orders outlined above, the Group is trading profitably" (17/5/2021)

Yr to 31/3/2021 Revenues = £320,875 (+346%) (Prelim Results, Yr to 31/3/2021 [31/8/21])

Yr to 31/3/2020 Revenues = £92,606

[red ninja] 10/9/2021 08:50

River and Mercantile UK MICRO CAP INVESTMENT COMPANY August 2021 factsheet :-


hXXps://riverandmercantile.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/RandM_Factsheet_UKMC.pdf

Venture Life (-24%/-0.8% contribution)
which warned that two business
opportunities were tracking behind
expectations. Whilst this is
disappointing, expectations have been
re-based and the company now
trades on a depressed multiple and
should be able to continue to execute
its value creative buy and build
strategy.

[rivaldo] 09/9/2021 07:26

Downing Strategic Micro-Cap Investment Trust have just sent out their August market commentary, and they conclude that despite the one-off disappointments re hand sanitiser and Dentyl China:

"Pleasingly, Venture Life also completed a further acquisition which will be immediately earnings enhancing. Helsinn generated £1.3 million of gross profit last year. Since this is an asset purchase only, all of this ought to drop through to the group’s earnings.

We still think Venture Life presents good value on a worst-case basis – taking pro-forma earnings from the recent M&A and writing down China Dentyl and hand sanitiser to zero, this is still a £10 million EBITDA business, with facility headroom and an operationally geared and capital light platform from which to continue consolidating."

[red ninja] 07/9/2021 14:43

Nice to see fund buying, presumably they've reconsidered their investment in VLG after the last trading update although of course funds are not infallible.

[qs99] 07/9/2021 14:34

and nice increase in holding

[qs99] 07/9/2021 14:28

Interesting tick up......

[red ninja] 24/8/2021 13:51

Most of the PIs who were spitting tacks over last trading update must have exited by now.

The current share price is not expensive if you accept the Cenkos projections are reasonable.

[qs99] 24/8/2021 13:13

unusual tick up, has it founds its floor?

[mach100] 22/8/2021 22:17

There seems to be some law that the shares I sell due to bad performance (like VLG ) bounce and the ones I keep burrow their way down to zero. Or else China State Intelligence is spying on my PF and passing the trades to those hoping to make money :p

[tole] 20/8/2021 19:58

Coverage on TMFhttps://www.fool.co.uk/investing/2021/08/20/2-penny-stocks-id-buy-in-my-stocks-and-shares-isa/Healthcare heroToday, Venture Life Group (LSE: VLG) shares go for 68p a pop. It's a penny stock I think could make me a lot of money as its transformation strategy clicks through the gears. Venture Life manufactures non-prescription healthcare products such as Dentyl mouthwashes, Procto-eze Plus haemorrhoid creams and Myco Clear fungal nail treatments.Acquisitions are a key part of the UK share's growth strategy and last January it made the transformative takeover of PharmaSource BV to boost its product ranges as well as worldwide distribution.Venture Life has also invested heavily to increase production at its Biokosmes facility in Northern Italy. Capacity here now stands at 250,000 units versus 130,000 previously.Encouragingly, the UK healthcare share has plenty of financial clout to keep investing in the business and pursuing its M&A agenda. Indeed, a £36m share placing at the end of last year gave it the strength to acquire women's health and diabetes product specialist BBI in June and a series of oncology support products from Helsinn Healthcare earlier this month.I'm confident this stock's aggressive approach to acquisitions could light a fire under long-term profits growth. But remember that an M&A-led growth strategy can be extremely risky. Meanwhile, problems like unexpected costs, underwhelming revenues, and paying over the odds for an asset can be common problems that ultimately damage shareholder returns.

[sphere25] 20/8/2021 10:27

Market makers edging up curiously here. It doesn't say anything significant as yet. Noted a couple of decent chunks being gobbled up at 67p yesterday with a 350k and 202k so a possible floor there perhaps?

Early days of course.

The market has bought those up and bid the price a tad higher today, someone is clearly ok accumulating in size from sellers around these levels, but it is clearly 67p vs 70p at the moment.

The latter is where the price has knocked its head a few times, but always hard to say if sellers get exhausted at 67p or whether you still have others sat at 70p keeping a lid on the price.

It's clearly all about trust in management here. I would be happy to ride any little move higher if the buying picks up, but not sure I would hold just in case they lobbed a grenade. It has that sort of feel this company.

Volume is light, though a 25k and a 100k bought at 70p as I type. It should be easy to spot any whoppers and price action here.

All imo
DYOR

[whatja] 20/8/2021 09:12

HSG was opportunistic and no doubt low margin use of the factory in Italy.

Container transport costs have risen massively probably eroding a lot of the value in China sales…..inflation could have sparked a profit warning here anyway.

The Board has managed to reshape the business towards oncology support through the fund raise….I judge them on the execution of that strategy over the next 2 years…..

IMO this is a brave time to buy….better to see some success and perhaps pay more

[rivaldo] 19/8/2021 08:45

VLG are forecast by Cenkos to make 4.6p adjusted EPS this year, rising to 6.21p EPS next year following the acquisitions already in place - and with hefty facilities to enable further large earnings-enhancing acquisitions.

Cenkos note that this could bring in £2m additional EBITDA in 2021, or if no acquisitions this year, then a further £3m EBITDA next year.

The key point here is that the core business is trading well and should pick up further, as highlighted by Cenkos:

"The core business, defined as the business excluding sales of Dentyl to the Chinese partner and HSG, is expected to report 9% growth in H1/21E, which we view as a strong result given the ongoing pandemic. While the impact of COVID continued into H1/21, the company is encouraged by indications of a post-pandemic recovery in UK retail, which we expect to support growth in this core business."

"At an adjusted level, we expect diluted EPS for FY21E to be 4.5p, up c19% versus our previous estimate of 3.8p. We forecast adjusted diluted EPS of 6.2p for FY22E, indicating growth of 37% YoY."

Management should have been much more open about the decline in the exceptional HSG and Dentyl China categories. But that doesn't offset the fact that the core business is building nicely and has the potential to grow much faster both organically and via acquisition.

[disc0dave45] 18/8/2021 08:53

Only about £21m of the RCF left after how many months!.
What’s the conditions for the extra £20m, can’t see they’ve said.
IMO 3p eps tops.
Why keep ignoring the facts that the BOD are untrustworthy?!.

[rivaldo] 18/8/2021 07:34

I completely agree with ST that VLG looks cheap at these levels and there's been a huge over-reaction.

VLG are forecast to make 6.21p EPS next year after the acquisitions already completed, and including almost nothing for hand sanitiser and Dentyl China.

That's a P/E of just 11.3 at 70p.

Then there's further upside from additional acquisitions, and indeed from any further gains from sanitiser or from China.

[farnesbarnes] 17/8/2021 12:54

Further fair play to those who bought around 30p when ST first tipped, on the strength of director buying (for his 18 year son I believe?). Shame ST didn't follow up with a sell tip when a) BOD offloaded and b) issued a shed load of new shares. It's like no one cared that there was 50% more stock overnight, issued to a bunch of institutional suckers.