Markets and Stocks – Doc Holliday talks to Alan Green

As we head towards Christmas, Alan Green and Doc Holliday talk markets and stocks. We discuss the macro events in the UK and the opportunities that Brexit and inflation could be throwing up for UK agriculture before we turn to stocks. Doc covers Harland & Wolff #HARL, ECR Minerals #ECR, Contango Holdings #CGO, Emmerson #EML, […]

#HVO hVIVO plc – Investors’ Chronicle

Building on decades of experience, hVIVO is currently the only CRO focused on challenge studies, providing world class expertise and capabilities in challenge agent manufacture, a unique portfolio of established human challenge models to test a broad range of infectious and respiratory disease products, and specialist drug development and clinical consultancy services through its Venn Life Sciences subsidiary. hVIVO contract awards Since the release of interim results in early September, hVIVO has announced a massive £13.4mn contract with a US biotechnology client, a repeat customer, to test its respiratory syncytial virus antiviral candidate using hVIVO’s established RSV Human Challenge Study Model. Although difficult to assess the challenge study market, Liberum Capital estimates there are around 20 challenge studies conducted each year. Using the prevailing average contract size of £6.7mn, this indicates £100mn-£135mn of challenge study work each year, excluding any additional income through manufacturing and validating bespoke challenge agent. Around 60 per cent of hVIVO’s current order book relates to biotech customers and the balance relates to big pharma, with the group carrying out three active challenge studies for big pharma in the first half of 2022 and two full-service challenge studies with values exceeding £25mn. Moreover, hVIVO has signed up eight challenge studies with big pharma companies since 2018, 12  and all the big pharma clients are repeat customers. Improving financials Backed by a bumper order book and having booked £9mn of group revenue in July and August 2022, house broker FinnCap expects the group’s hVIVO division, which carries out the challenge studies, to grow revenue from £29.4mn last year to £42.5mn in 2022 and account for 82 per cent of its total revenue estimate of £51.1mn. Furthermore, taking account of challenge study contract wins, revenue from Venn Life, laboratory services and non-challenge studies, the brokerage estimates that £53mn of its 2023 revenue estimate of £56mn is already covered. SGS’s expertise is in performing influenza challenge studies, but it also has Malaria challenge, and RSV challenge models.

hVIVO #HVO – Major Shareholding

hVIVO #HVI TR-1: Standard form for notification of major holdings Allan Rankin now owns 20,702,209 shares (3.09%) of HVO issued share capital

Open Orphan #ORPH – Change of name to hVIVO plc effective

Open Orphan #ORPH, a rapidly growing specialist contract research organisation (CRO) and world leader in testing infectious and respiratory disease products using human challenge clinical trials, announces that further to its announcement on 8 September 2022, the Company’s change of name to hVIVO plc (AIM: HVO) has now been completed and is expected to take […]

Open Orphan #ORPH – CFO appointment & change of Board roles

Open Orphan #ORPH (to be renamed hVIVO plc (Ticker: HVO) effective 26 October 2022), a rapidly growing specialist contract research organisation (CRO) and world leader in testing infectious and respiratory disease products using human challenge clinical trials, announces the appointment of Stephen Pinkerton as Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”) and as an Executive Director, effective with immediate […]

Open Orphan #ORPH – hVIVO merger offer now wholly unconditional

NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN, INTO OR FROM ANY JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OR REGULATIONS OF ANY SUCH JURISDICTION 17 January 2020 Recommended All Equity Offer for HVIVO PLC (“HVIVO”) to merge with OPEN ORPHAN PLC (“OPEN […]

Open Orphan #ORPH – Second Closing of the hVIVO Offer, No extension of the Offer

Second Closing of the Offer No extension of the Offer Introduction On 9 December 2019, the boards of Open Orphan and hVIVO announced that they had reached agreement on the terms of a recommended all-equity offer for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of hVIVO (the “Offer”). Under the terms of the Offer, hVIVO […]

Open Orphan #ORPH – Result of General Meeting

Open Orphan is pleased to announce that at the Company’s General Meeting held earlier today in relation to the Company’s proposed merger with hVIVO plc and the Proposed Placing, all of the Resolutions put to the meeting were duly passed. The Board is excited by the growth potential of the Enlarged Group following completion of […]