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Amphion Innovations' NAV gets some "motifation"

Published: 04:05 03 Sep 2015 EDT

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m2m is poised to make good progress and could be the next star in the Amphion portfolio

Medical and tech business developer Amphion Innovations (LON:AMP) saw its net asset value (NAV) per share race higher in the first half of the year.

NAV per share at the end of June stood at 12p, up from 0.7p at the end of 2014, largely as a result of the flotation in April of one of its portfolio companies, Motif Bio (LON:MTFB), which was trading at 68.75p at the end of June, giving it a market value of around £74.5mln.

Motif’s flotation sparked an adjustment to the value of Amphion’s assets, with a US$34.8mln uplift in “fair value” during the period resulting in a half-yeaqr profit before tax of US$33.15mln versus a loss the year before of US$8.1mln.

Despite the shake-out in the market since it floated, Motif is trading just a few pence below its end-June level, having announced further good news today in the form of fast-track designation by the US Food and Drug Administration for its next generation antibiotic, Iclaprim.

“We believe Motif has a very bright future and is now on its way to becoming a significant player in the antibiotic market, which has a growing need for novel therapies,” said Richard Morgan, chief executive (CEO) of Amphion.

Amphion, which raised £1.54mln in June through a well-supported share placing, ended the reporting period with around US$1.7mln (£1.1mln) in cash and reduced total liabilities during the first half of the year by US$2.1mln.

This has left the company in a position to explore the possibility, for the first time in many years, of adding to its portfolio of investments. In the meantime, “we now have the opportunity to move forward one or two other partner companies”, Morgan declared.

“We look forward to the future with renewed confidence and to being able to report further progress with Motif, DataTern, and other partner companies in due course," the Amphion CEO said.

The company has high hopes for medical imaging firm m2m, and expects to expand the core business, partly by combining with other emerging companies.

Although the path for its computerised tomography (CT) scanning technology company Kromek (LON:KMK) has been bumpy, Amphion continues to believe in the potential of the company’s technology platform.

Amphion owns 5.75% of Kromek.

Much like an investment trust, Amphion is chiefly assessed on its NAV rather than revenue and profits.

Revenue in the first half of the year edged up to US$267,601 from US$240,000 in the same period of 2014.

The operating loss for the period was US$1.25mln, compared with US$1.77mln a year earlier, reflecting the company’s successful cost-cutting initiatives.

“The board and management have supported Amphion through several lean years but the fact that we have been able to raise fresh equity capital is an encouraging development,” the company told investors. 

“The board is encouraged to progress with the development of Amphion's other partner companies and the IP [intellectual property] licensing programme, and looks forward to the future with confidence,” it added.

Shares in Amphion were up 8.8% at 5.85p in the first hour of trading.

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