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Deltex Medical, Venture Life, InternetQ and Horizon Discovery at next forum

Published: 02:30 27 Sep 2014 AEST

Deltex Medical, Venture Life, InternetQ and Horizon Discovery at next forum

Next Thursday we are joined by the executives of four highly exciting AIM companies from the biotech, medical devices, software, and pharmaceutical sectors. 

Deltex Medical (LON:DEMG), Venture Life (LON:VLG), InternetQ (LON:INTQ) and Horizon Discovery (LON:HZD) join us on October 2 to talk through their latest developments and they are available for networking afterwards. To register please click HERE.

Any doubts over the potential of life sciences firm Horizon Discovery were scotched when it raised £40mln ahead of its AIM listing in March. 

It was impressive backing for a company that so far has produced only modest revenues and losses and a clear signal of how highly investors rate the reagent firm’s prospects. 

That cash should also see the group through to profitability, which analysts reckon will occur in 2016, and helped fund the £4.7mln acquisition of CombinatoRx in June. 

What Horizon does is gene editing, or producing human cell lines that are identical bar carefully selected mutations. 

These cell lines, “patients in a test-tube” as it describes them, enables a drug developer to target the specific drivers of a disease, which means shorter, less costly and more targeted clinical trials. 

For the big pharma companies with their long and expensive drug development pipelines this is a huge deal and many are already Horizon clients. 

A string of partnership arrangements mean Horizon is also a potential beneficiary of any discoveries, with possible milestone or royalty payments now estimated at £158mln or 27% higher than a year ago. 

Revenues were 36% higher in the latest half year, but at £4mln this only scratches the surface of the company’s ambitions as it aims to become a fully-integrated life science business. Here to help put meat on the bones is chief executive Darrin Disley.

Having built its business in the UK, it is overseas and especially the US that is likely to be provide the next chapter of Deltex Medical’s (LON:DEMG) story. 

Slowly but surely, and backed by a bookcase full of research, Deltex is persuading US hospitals of the benefits of its oesophageal Doppler monitoring (ODM) system. 

The bloodflow monitor cuts the time patients have to stay in hospital after major surgery, saving the hospital money and freeing up beds. 

Originally, the UK was seen as potentially the first major user of ODM, but NHS politics have slowed its adoption despite a recommendation from health watchdog NICE. Deltex expects NHS demand will recover post election, but it is now focused overseas and especially the US where sales enquiries are running ahead of its forecasts. Broker Arden believes the US growth is being driven by a growing recognition of the clinical benefits of enhanced recovery techniques. 

Meanwhile, encouraging results from new ODM trials in Spain and Ireland have also just been published, pointing to other potential opportunities. Here to update us on the latest developments is CFO Paul Mitchell.

Mobile, social and app-based service provider, InternetQ is the story of a company with the right products in the right markets at the right time. Strong growth across all business divisions healy year revenues rose by an eye-catching 50% to around €65mln, while underlying earnings jumped 90% to exceed €9.5mln. 

At the heart of the business is its mobile advertising service, Minimob, but the group’s music streaming service, Akazoo, rocks on, both in its traditional areas of strength and in new areas, such as Thailand and Malaysia. In July, the company said the momentum seen in the first half is expected to continue during the remainder of the year and full year results will match market expectations.

RBC expects that to be an underlying profit of €22.8mln, a 58% rise, while Canaccord Genuity (TSX:CF, LSE:CF) has a 510p price target or more than double the current level. Joining us this Thursday is chief executive Patagiotis Dimitropoulos

Venture Life’s niche is to help the ageing population with its range of food supplements and medical products.

It is a rapidly growing market with the numbers of OAPs rising rapidly in the UK and across Europe.

In fact, Venture Life sells in over 40 countries with products ranging from supplements to lower cholesterol and improving memory to skin cosmetics and devices for minor aches and pains. 

Possibly its most exciting product is a food supplement capsule form of Benecol, which comes without the side effects of low-dose statins.

Venture relies on a network of long term, exclusive partnerships with international pharmaceutical firms and retailers to take and distribute its products. Indeed, it now has 75 partners and the model means Venture Life is a far less capital intensive than it might otherwise be.

That is reflected in Venture already paying a dividend. 

Its March listing on AIM saw it raise just over £5min to complete the acquisition of Biokosmes, which brought together its marketing and product nous with a manufacturing specialist.

It sounds a perfect marriage, joining us to explain how the relationship is working out is CFO James Hunter.

Please join us at 5:45pm to allow for a prompt 6pm start. Each company has around 30 minutes to give a short presentation and for Q&A.  This will be followed by the 'Champagne Raffle' where four guests will win a bottle each.

The evening will end with a drinks reception with canapés.

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