JTC shares were down 2.9% to 787p in early morning trading on Tuesday, following the fund management services firm’s pre-tax profit climb of 147.2% to £27.8 million from £11.2 million.
The company reported a 28.2% increase in revenue to £147.5 million compared to £115.1 million last year as a result of strong net organic growth of 9.6% and inorganic growth of 18.6%.
JTC saw its EBITDA fall 23.8% to £26.6 million against £34.9 million, along with an EBITDA margin decline of 12.3% to 18% compared to 30.3% in 2021.
The group reported a 57.2% drop in operating profit to £9 million from £21 million, and its earnings per share saw a hike of 127.2% to 20.4p against 9p.
The company highlighted the continued integration of its seven acquisitions in 2021, and confirmed a net organic revenue growth of 8-10% per year in its medium-term guidance for 2022.
“2021 saw JTC execute on its inorganic growth strategy with seven high quality acquisitions completed in the year – the most we have ever achieved in a single calendar year,” said JTC CEO Nigel Le Quesne.
“The quality businesses in Segue, SALI and EFS, also supported our strategic push into the US.”
“Looking ahead, while much of the focus will be on improving and integrating what we have, we also remain of the view that the sector is primed for consolidation and that our proven approach to identifying, securing and integrating high quality acquisitions is a key part of creating long-term value for JTC and our stakeholders.”
The company announced a dividend per share of 7.6p compared to 6.7p, representing a 0.9p increase for 2021.
Spectris shares were up 4.8% to 2,637p in early morning trading on Tuesday, after the precision instruments company reported its divestment of Omega Engineering and its £300 million share buyback scheme.
Arcline confirmed that Omega will join its Dwyer Group portfolio of companies once the agreement has closed, citing interest in the group’s production of specialist sensors for Dwyer’s development of innovative sensors and instrumentation solutions for the environmental and building automation markets.
Omega reportedly generated sales of £129 million in 2021, with an adjusted EBITDA of £19.7 million and a gross assets book value of £197.7 million.
The deal is currently projected for completion early in the third quarter of 2022.
Spectris confirmed that sale of Omega Engineering will leave the firm with Malvern Panalytical, HBK and Industrial Solutions as its three core businesses.
The company said that the divestment would leave Spectris with an improved financial profile, with a specific focus on high precision measurement instruments.
“Spectris today is a more focused, more profitable, and more resilient business, underpinned by a very strong balance sheet,” said Spectris CEO Andrew Heath.
“We are more aligned than ever to end markets with attractive growth trajectories, supported by key sustainability themes.”
“The divestment of Omega will further improve our financial profile.”
Spectris also confirmed the launch of its £300 million share buyback scheme, which will see the group kick off an initial tranche of £150 million, followed by an additional tranche of £150 million to be launched pending shareholder approval at the firm’s Annual General Meeting on 27 May 2022.
“Today’s announcement is yet a further example of our approach to optimising our assets and successfully divesting businesses at multiples higher than the Group as a whole,” said Heath.
“This disposal, in conjunction with the share buyback programme, delivers clear value for shareholders, whilst also allowing us to take advantage of new growth opportunities for our core businesses, in line with our purpose.”
The E-commerce company, Ascential has signed an agreement to acquire Sellics which is a media execution service provider to challenger brands trading on Amazon, on Tuesday.
Sellics will be incorporated with Ascential’s Digital Commerce business unit’s challenger brand expert Perpetua, leveraging its scaled platform to greatly increase penetration of the European market for this fast-growing customer category.
Sellics’ objective is to make Amazon Advertising for eCommerce firms easier and more time-consuming while also enhancing their advertising performance and growing their business.
The group accomplishes this by combining a cutting-edge software platform for ad optimization and automation with market-leading actionable analytics and competitive information, as well as experienced advertising services.
Through a suite of software tools, the media execution service provider offers challenger companies who sell on Amazon in the US and Europe a mix of advertising spend optimization, campaign automation, and profit analytics.
Sellics’ headquarter is in Berlin and has 90 employees. The company is run by its co-founders Franz Jordan who is the CEO, Josef Vataman the CTO, and CMO Thomas Ropel.
“Sellics’ strong presence in the European challenger market and engineering expertise will accelerate Perpetua’s growth outside its existing US operations, while Perpetua itself will provide exciting growth opportunities for the Sellics’ customer base through its advanced product set,” said Duncan Painter, CEO, Ascential.
GlaxoSmithKline shares decreased 0.6% to 1,761.8p in early morning trading on Tuesday, after the company announced its accepted Food and Drug Administration (FDA) application for its chronic kidney disease anaemia treatment daprodustat.
The application was reportedly accepted following GlaxoSmithKline’s ASCEND phase three programme, which consisted of five trials which successfully met their primary efficacy and safety endpoints in both non-dialysis and dialysis patients.
The trials covered 8,000 patients over 4.2 years, with the results presented at the American Society of Nephrology’s Kidney Week last year.
The pharmaceutical giant commented that the drug was developed to provide patients with a convenient oral treatment for chronic kidney disease-linked anaemia complications.
The treatment was based on Nobel Prize-winning scientific breakthroughs, which demonstrated how cells sense and adapt to the availability of oxygen in the human body.
The move marks the third regulatory step in the treatment’s advancement after it achieved marketing authorisation approval from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and secured regulatory submission acceptance and approval in Japan under the label Duvroq for renal anaemia.
AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo announced that in the United States, Enhertu was granted Priority Review for patients with HER2-mutant metastatic non-small cell lung cancer who had previously been treated.
The supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for Enhertu (trastuzumab deruxtecan) for the treatment of adult patients in the United States with unresectable or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumours have a HER2 (ERBB2) mutation and who have received prior systemic therapy has been accepted, according to AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo. Priority Review has also been given to the application.
Priority Review is granted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to applications for medicines that, if approved, would provide significant benefits over existing options by demonstrating improved safety or efficacy, averting serious conditions, or improving patient compliance.
The FDA action date for their regulatory decision under the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) is in the third quarter of 2022.
The FDA approved Enhertu Breakthrough Therapy Designation in this cancer type in May 2020, prompting the Priority Review for AstraZeneca.
Lung cancer is the second most frequent disease worldwide, with over two million new cases expected to be diagnosed by 2020.
Patients with metastatic NSCLC have a particularly bad prognosis, with just about 8% living longer than five years following diagnosis.
There are presently no HER2-directed treatments licenced particularly for the treatment of HER2-mutant NSCLC4, which affects 2%-4% of non-squamous NSCLC patients.
Supplemental Biologics License Application
The sBLA is supported by the Phase I trial published in Cancer Discovery and is based on results from the registrational DESTINY-Lung01 Phase II trial published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
As assessed by independent central review, primary results from previously-treated patients with HER2-mutations of DESTINY-Lung01 revealed a confirmed objective response rate of 54.9% in patients treated with Enhertu (6.4mg/kg).
A total of one (1.1%) complete response and 49 (53.8%) partial replies were found.
A proven disease control rate of 92.3% was recorded, with most patients experiencing a reduction in tumour size.
AstraZeneca’s Enhertu’s median duration of response was 9.3 months after a median follow-up of 13.1 months.
The median progression-free survival was 8.2 months, with a 17.8-month median overall survival.
AstraZeneca’s Enhertu is currently being evaluated in a large clinical trial that will look at its efficacy and safety in a variety of HER2-targetable malignancies, including breast, gastric, lung, and colorectal cancers.
Susan Galbraith, Executive Vice President, Oncology R&D, AstraZeneca, commented, ” The DESTINY-Lung01 trial confirmed the HER2 mutation as an actionable biomarker in non-small cell lung cancer.”
“If approved, Enhertu has the potential to become a new standard treatment in this patient population, offering a much-needed option for patients with HER2-mutant metastatic non-small cell lung cancer who currently have no targeted treatment options.”
“The results of DESTINY-Lung01 showed that Enhertu is the first HER2-directed therapy to demonstrate a strong and robust tumour response in more than half of patients with previously treated HER2-mutant metastatic non-small cell lung cancer,” added Ken Takeshita, MD, Global Head, R&D, Daiichi Sankyo.
“Seeking approval in the US for a third tumour type in three years further demonstrates the significant potential of Enhertu in treating multiple HER2-targetable cancers.”
AstraZeneca shares dropped 0.1% to 10,526p on Tuesday despite announcing the Priority Review for Enhertu.
The education publisher, Pearson announced on Tuesday that the company’s Online Program Management (OPM) partnership with Arizona State University (ASU) will come to an end in June 2023. The group reiterated the existing financial guidance remains unaltered.
The groundbreaking partnership between Pearson and ASU has helped the university improve and extend its online learning offerings and resources over the last ten years.
Pearson and ASU have a shared goal of making a positive difference in the lives of students, and their very successful cooperation has aided tens of thousands of students in realising their full potential through a college education.
The contract termination will have a minor earnings impact in 2022 and 2023, however, this will be mitigated by cutting related costs and re-directing investment to Pearson’s strategic development opportunities in the following years.
The group’s financial forecast for 2022 which was provided in its preliminary results in February this year remains unchanged, as does the medium-term group level guidance.
As Pearson spends to drive growth, they estimate group revenue to grow at a mid-single-digit CAGR from 2022 to 2025, and group margins to stay relatively steady in the near term, improving to the mid-teens by 2025.
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The UK Investor Magazine was delighted to welcome Adam Davidson, the CEO of Trident Royalties, to the Podcast for a deep dive into rising metals prices and mining royalties.
Trident Royalties is a London-listed mining royalties company with a portfolio consisting of over 20 royalties spanning a range of metals including gold, lithium and iron ore.
Having raised £16 million at 20p through its listing on London’s AIM, Trident Royalties shares are now trading at a whisker under 50p.
Adam describes in detail what a mining royalty is, and how mining royalties are driving value creation for Trident Royalties shareholders. There is particular attention paid to benefits of investing in a mining royalty company compared to a junior miner engaged in exploration and production operations.
Indeed, Adam says investors could view mining royalty companies such as Trident Royalties as an option to fill the gap between junior explorers and the world’s largest diversified miners.
