K3 Business Technology Group — Shifting from product to customer focus

K3 Business Technology Group — Shifting from product to customer focus

As previously flagged, delays in closing contracts in H117 hit profitability. Management launched a reorganisation programme to streamline the business and support cross-selling as well reduce the cost base. Better software sales in H217 combined with the reduction in overheads should result in a recovery in profitability in H217 and FY18. K3 continues to focus on selling own IP-based products and hosting services to new customers as well as its 3,700-strong customer base. We leave our forecasts largely unchanged.

Katherine Thompson

Written by

Katherine Thompson

Director

K3 Business Technology

Shifting from product to customer focus

Interim results

Software & comp services

28 March 2017

Price

255.00p

Market cap

£92m

Net debt (£m) at end H117

12.5

Shares in issue

36.0m

Free float

80%

Code

KBT

Primary exchange

AIM

Secondary exchange

N/A

Share price performance

%

1m

3m

12m

Abs

0.0

(17.7)

(26.4)

Rel (local)

(1.4)

(21.1)

(38.2)

52-week high/low

360.0p

238.0p

Business description

K3 Business Technology provides Microsoft-, SYSPRO- and Sage-based ERP solutions and managed services to the retail, distribution and manufacturing sectors.

Next events

Trading update

July 2017

Analysts

Katherine Thompson

+44 (0)20 3077 5730

Dan Ridsdale

+44 (0)20 3077 5729

K3 Business Technology is a research client of Edison Investment Research Limited

As previously flagged, delays in closing contracts in H117 hit profitability. Management launched a reorganisation programme to streamline the business and support cross-selling as well reduce the cost base. Better software sales in H217 combined with the reduction in overheads should result in a recovery in profitability in H217 and FY18. K3 continues to focus on selling own IP-based products and hosting services to new customers as well as its 3,700-strong customer base. We leave our forecasts largely unchanged.

Year end

Revenue (£m)

PBT*
(£m)

EPS*
(p)

DPS
(p)

P/E
(x)

Yield
(%)

06/15

83.4

7.2

19.1

1.50

13.4

0.6

06/16

89.2

8.8

23.0

1.75

11.1

0.7

06/17e

92.6

7.3

15.8

1.93

16.1

0.8

06/18e

94.0

10.5

22.9

2.12

11.1

0.8

Note: *PBT and EPS are normalised, excluding amortisation of acquired intangibles, exceptional items and share-based payments.

Deal slippage hits H117 profitability

As highlighted by the company in January, deal slippage in both the Retail and Manufacturing & Distribution businesses resulted in lower than expected revenues in H117. The shortfall in high-margin license revenues combined with investment in the partner channel resulted in a drop in adjusted operating profit to £0.45m from £5.11m in H116. Management is confident that deals have been delayed rather than gone away, and the increase in the pipeline (£82m at end H117 vs £76m at the end of FY16) bears this out. Contracts signed post period-end show that the pipeline is starting to convert and support sequential revenue growth in H217.

Reorganisation well underway

The new management team launched a reorganisation of the business mid-way through H117. This is designed to streamline the business in order to make it easier to cross-sell own-IP and third-party products across the company’s 3,700-strong customer base as well as offer comprehensive solutions rather than single products to new customers. This should result in annualised cost savings of c £3m. Our normalised operating profit forecasts are substantially unchanged. Factoring in higher interest expenses, we reduce our normalised EPS forecast by 5% in FY17 and 6% in FY18. We forecast a reduction in net debt from the £12.5m reported at end H117 to £10.2m by the end of FY17 and £5.5m by the end of FY18.

Valuation: Attractive on FY18 forecasts

K3 is trading on 16.1x FY17e normalised EPS and 11.1x FY18e compared to small-cap UK software and IT services stocks trading on an average 17.5x current year and 16.6x next year EPS. Based on our FY18 forecasts, K3’s valuation looks attractive. Evidence of pipeline conversion and successful cross-selling from the reorganisation should provide support to our forecasts, which factor in a return to revenue growth in H217, in turn driving margin expansion in H217 and FY18. The increasing proportion of cloud-based deals, while reducing upfront revenue recognition, will help the company build a higher level of recurring revenues.

Review of H117 results

Exhibit 1: Half-yearly results

£000s

H116

H117

Change

Revenues

42,291

42,974

1.6%

Normalised operating profit

5,111

469

-90.8%

Normalised operating margin

12.1%

1.1%

-11.0%

Reported operating profit

2,665

(3,825)

-243.5%

Normalised profit before tax

4,724

52

-98.9%

Normalised net income

3,829

(108)

-102.8%

Reported net income

1,872

(3,429)

-283.2%

Reported EPS (p)

5.9

(9.6)

-262.7%

Normalised EPS (p)

11.9

(0.3)

-102.5%

Net debt

10,453

12,511

19.7%

Source: K3 Business Technology Group. Note: Normalised: excludes amortisation of acquired intangibles, exceptional items and share-based payments.

K3 reported a 1.6% revenue increase year-on-year. Excluding the impact of the Merac and DdD acquisitions (July 2016 and April 2016, respectively), revenues declined 7% y-o-y. Recurring revenues grew 7.6% to make up 49.4% of total revenues, up from 46.6% for H116 and 46.7% for FY16. A shortfall in software sales in both divisions combined with the higher cost base from the acquisitions resulted in normalised operating profit falling 91% y-o-y to £0.5m. The company incurred exceptional costs of £2.7m related to restructuring in H117. Net debt increased to £12.5m from £8.9m at the end of FY16.

Business update

Restructuring well underway

With the new management team joining in H117 (CEO Adalsteinn Valdimarsson and CFO Rob Price taking on their roles in October 2016), a major reorganisation programme was launched. This aims to streamline the business in order to improve the level of cross-selling. Products that have typically only been sold in the division in which they were originally developed are now being marketed more widely across the group. Examples include the Orchard Warehouse Management software and Dataswitch, which typically were only sold to SYSPRO customers but are now being sold through K3’s global channel partners. The exceptional restructuring cost incurred in H117 totalled £2.74m and we forecast a total of £3m for FY17, as management believes it has completed the vast majority of the programme. This should result in annualised cost savings of at least £3m.

The website has been revamped and the group’s products and services have been grouped into the following divisions:

K3 B2B – focused on manufacturing and distribution businesses. Products include: Microsoft Dynamics NAV, AX, and 365; SYSPRO, Sage, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

K3 B2C – retail focused. This includes k3 Retail, Merac, DdD (retail-in-a-box), k3 Retail Store Services (hardware rollouts), and Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

K3 global accounts – eg IKEA.

K3 managed services. This incorporates the Starcom business.

K3 software solutions. This comprises products developed by K3, including Advanced Planning & Scheduling, ax|is, DataSwitch, DdD Retail, Fresh Dynamics, Orchard (WMS), K3 for Retail, pebblestone|fashion, and REALIZe.

The company continues to report financial performance across two divisions – Retail and Manufacturing & Distribution – and includes managed services within the Manufacturing & Distribution division.

Exhibit 2: Divisional performance

£m

H116

H216

H117

y-o-y

h-o-h

Revenues

Software

6.89

9.34

4.41

-36.0%

-52.8%

Retail

4.50

5.84

2.51

-44.2%

-57.0%

Manufacturing & distribution

2.39

3.50

1.90

-20.5%

-45.7%

Services

13.18

12.56

14.01

6.3%

11.5%

Retail

7.68

6.84

8.12

5.7%

18.7%

Manufacturing & distribution

5.50

5.72

5.89

7.1%

3.0%

Recurring revenues

19.72

21.90

21.21

7.6%

-3.2%

Retail

6.20

10.54

7.66

23.5%

-27.3%

Manufacturing & distribution

13.52

11.36

13.55

0.2%

19.3%

Hardware & other revenues

2.50

3.09

3.34

33.6%

8.1%

Retail

1.34

1.98

2.65

97.8%

33.8%

Manufacturing & distribution

1.16

1.11

0.69

-40.5%

-37.8%

Total revenues

42.29

46.9

43.0

1.6%

-8.4%

Retail

19.72

25.20

20.94

6.2%

-16.9%

Manufacturing & distribution

22.57

21.69

22.03

-2.4%

1.6%

Gross profit

23.52

25.02

22.48

-4.4%

-10.2%

Retail

10.26

13.10

10.48

2.1%

-20.0%

Manufacturing & distribution

13.26

11.92

12.00

-9.5%

0.7%

Gross margin

55.6%

53.4%

52.3%

-3.3%

-1.0%

Retail

52.0%

52.0%

50.0%

-2.0%

-1.9%

Manufacturing & distribution

58.8%

55.0%

54.5%

-4.3%

-0.5%

Adjusted* operating profit

5.13

4.37

0.45

-91.2%

-89.7%

Retail

2.51

3.54

(0.79)

-131.5%

-122.3%

Manufacturing & distribution

2.99

1.29

1.88

-37.1%

45.7%

Head office

(0.37)

(0.46)

(0.64)

73.0%

39.1%

Adjusted operating margin

12.1%

9.3%

1.0%

-11.1%

-8.3%

Retail

12.7%

14.0%

-3.8%

-16.5%

-17.8%

Manufacturing & distribution

13.2%

5.9%

8.5%

-4.7%

2.6%

Source: K3 Business Technology Group. Note: *Excludes amortisation of acquired intangibles and exceptional items.

Retail: Profitability down due to deal slippage

Overall revenues grew 6.2% y-o-y; excluding the £3.7m contributed by DdD and Mercac, revenues declined 12.6% y-o-y. Although the company continued to see good demand for its solutions, the sales cycle has lengthened; management believes that the shift to the cloud is extending the decision-making process for the customer. Consequently the division saw fewer major new software contracts in December than expected. Those deals are still in the pipeline, and one major deal has just been signed: the British Heart Foundation last week signed a contract for on-premise Dynamics AX software for 700 retail outlets; the contract is initially worth at least £2m. Services revenues grew 5.7% y-o-y and 18.7% h-o-h – contracts signed in June 2016 with Selco, Fortnum & Mason and Ann Summers were in implementation phase in H117 (although the use of external contractors weighted on the services gross margin, which fell to 23.9% from 30.5% a year ago). Recurring revenues increased 23.5% y-o-y helped by the addition of Merac and DdD, although revenues were down 27% h-o-h. Own IP product sales fell 26% y-o-y but own IP product-related sales grew 89% y-o-y. Overall, this boosted gross margins for software sales.

In Q217, the division signed the company’s largest ever hosting deal linked to a Dynamics AX contract, when it signed up Fortnum & Mason (which had signed a software contract in Q416). The IKEA franchisee business remained strong and the company is looking to sell other K3 software solutions to the franchisees’ non-IKEA businesses. The DdD and Merac acquisitions are performing well. DdD’s “born in the cloud” technology is to be a core part of K3’s “Next Generation” platform.

Weaker software sales and higher use of external resources resulted in a lower divisional gross margin year-on-year and half-on-half. Higher operating expenses due to increased investment in the partner channel and the IKEA relationship as well as adding in the overheads from the DdD and Merac acquisitions resulted in a drop in adjusted operating profit to -£0.79m from £2.51m a year ago.

Manufacturing & Distribution: First cloud AX deal signed

Divisional revenues declined 2.4% y-o-y. As for the Retail division, the business saw deal slippage. Recurring revenues increased marginally year-on-year, the majority of which comprises the support and maintenance renewals for the SYSPRO business, which are billed in October. The renewal rate remained at 98%. Services revenues grew 7.1% y-o-y as various projects were implemented over the period. The business sold its first Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Operations contract (previously known as AX7) – this is Microsoft’s first cloud-based ERP solution. Starcom, the hosting and managed services business, saw a revenue decline of 5.5% to £5.11m, of which £3.95m is reported in recurring revenues (+4% y-o-y). As we have previously written, the business was affected by the loss of the MyLocal contract after the company went into administration. In September, the company noted that Sage sales had been weaker; the business is now starting to see a pick-up in new business.

As for the Retail division, lower software sales and increased use of external resources for implementation resulted in a lower gross margin versus H116 and H216. Lower operating costs offset some of this, resulting in adjusted operating profit of £1.88m, down from £2.99m a year ago.

Outlook and changes to forecasts

While longer sales cycles had a negative impact on performance in H117, management is confident that deals have not gone away, as evidenced by strong pipelines in both divisions. The Retail pipeline is up 80% y-o-y and 5% h-o-h to £47m. The Manufacturing & Distribution pipeline is up 17% y-o-y and 12% h-o-h to £35m. Since the end of H117, as well as the British Heart Foundation AX deal, the company has closed NAV, Sage and SYSPRO deals that were in discussion prior to the period end.

Management is considering changing the financial year-end to move away from the June and December period ends. With a June year-end, Microsoft offers discounting at period ends, which puts a very heavy weighting to contract signings in June and December. This makes forecasting difficult for management – shifting to a year-end such as November would put the peak signing months into the beginning of a period, rather than the end, and therefore give the company better visibility and reduce the potential for customers to use financial reporting as a tool to get better pricing.

In October 2016, the company refinanced the term loan that was due for repayment in August 2017 with a three-year revolving facility.

We have revised our forecasts to take account of the following:

Revenues: we assume a significant pick up in software licensing in H217 across both divisions, as some of the delayed deals from H117 start to close. We raise our FY17 revenue forecast by 4.0% and FY18 by 4.2%, mainly due to higher than expect services revenues.

Gross margin: we have increased our gross margin assumption for FY17 to reflect a recovery in software sales in H217.

Normalised operating profit: higher gross profit in both years is offset by higher operating expense assumptions, to leave our normalised operating profit substantially unchanged. We have taken account of the cost savings expected from the reorganisation, but we have also factored in a higher spend in H117 on the partner channel and the IKEA relationship than we had originally expected.

Interest charges: based on the run rate in H117, we have increased our net finance cost assumptions for FY17 and FY18.

Normalised EPS: overall, we reduce our normalised EPS forecast by 5.1% in FY17 and 5.9% in FY18, with the main difference relating to the higher interest expense.

Exhibit 3: Changes to forecasts

£m

Old

New

Change

Old

New

Change

Growth

FY17e

FY17e

FY18e

FY18e

FY17e

FY18e

Retail

45.50

47.54

4.5%

46.04

48.04

4.3%

5.8%

1.1%

Manufacturing & distribution

43.55

45.03

3.4%

44.20

46.00

4.1%

1.7%

2.2%

Revenues

89.05

92.57

4.0%

90.24

94.04

4.2%

3.8%

1.6%

Margins

Retail

5.39

4.31

-20.2%

6.91

5.82

-15.7%

9.1%

12.1%

Manufacturing & distribution

3.61

4.85

34.1%

5.28

6.39

21.0%

10.8%

13.9%

Head office costs

(0.89)

(1.07)

20.2%

(0.93)

(0.97)

4.3%

Normalised operating profit

8.12

8.08

-0.5%

11.26

11.24

-0.2%

Operating margin

9.1%

8.7%

-0.4%

12.5%

12.0%

-0.5%

Normalised PBT

7.72

7.28

-5.7%

11.01

10.54

-4.2%

Normalised net income

6.13

5.82

-5.1%

8.97

8.45

-5.9%

Reported EPS (p)

2.3

1.2

-46.5%

18.2

17.1

-6.1%

Normalised EPS (p)

16.7

15.8

-5.1%

24.4

22.9

-5.9%

Net debt

10.02

10.17

1.5%

5.03

5.54

10.2%

Source: Edison Investment Research


Exhibit 4: Financial summary

£000s

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017e

2018e

Year end 30 June

IFRS

IFRS

IFRS

IFRS

IFRS

IFRS

IFRS

PROFIT & LOSS

Revenue

 

 

67,961

63,513

71,950

83,427

89,175

92,570

94,040

Cost of Sales

(28,491)

(30,375)

(32,990)

(40,446)

(40,636)

(42,030)

(42,832)

Gross Profit

39,470

33,138

38,960

42,981

48,539

50,540

51,209

EBITDA

 

 

12,942

7,261

9,861

10,975

12,843

12,280

15,839

Operating Profit (before am of acq. intang. and except.)

11,405

5,164

7,328

8,169

9,529

8,080

11,239

Amortisation of acquired intangibles

(3,586)

(3,182)

(2,989)

(2,800)

(2,734)

(2,900)

(2,900)

Share-based payments

(72)

(70)

(27)

(18)

(28)

(30)

(30)

Other

(395)

(727)

(1,722)

(546)

(1,538)

(3,000)

0

Operating Profit

7,352

1,185

2,590

4,805

5,229

2,150

8,309

Net Interest

(1,309)

(723)

(705)

(926)

(701)

(800)

(700)

Profit Before Tax (norm)

 

 

10,096

4,441

6,623

7,243

8,828

7,280

10,539

Profit Before Tax (FRS 3)

 

 

6,043

462

1,885

3,879

4,528

1,350

7,609

Tax

(319)

780

675

(436)

(425)

(910)

(1,444)

Profit After Tax (norm)

8,591

4,165

5,874

6,162

7,650

5,820

8,445

Profit After Tax (FRS 3)

5,724

1,242

2,560

3,443

4,103

440

6,165

Average Number of Shares Outstanding (m)

28.2

29.2

31.4

31.6

32.4

36.0

36.0

EPS - normalised (p)

 

 

30.4

14.3

18.7

19.5

23.6

16.2

23.5

EPS - normalised fully diluted (p)

 

 

29.7

14.1

18.5

19.1

23.0

15.8

22.9

EPS - FRS 3 (p)

 

 

20.3

4.3

8.1

10.9

12.6

1.2

17.1

Dividend per share (p)

1.00

1.00

1.25

1.50

1.75

1.93

2.12

Gross Margin (%)

58.1

52.2

54.1

51.5

54.4

54.6

54.5

EBITDA Margin (%)

19.0

11.4

13.7

13.2

14.4

13.3

16.8

Operating Margin (before GW and except.) (%)

16.8

8.1

10.2

9.8

10.7

8.7

12.0

BALANCE SHEET

Fixed Assets

 

 

68,325

69,398

67,067

67,497

78,072

77,742

75,292

Intangible Assets

21,255

21,040

20,040

20,806

26,369

26,239

23,939

Tangible Assets

2,722

2,927

2,439

2,316

2,389

2,189

2,039

Goodwill

43,540

44,610

43,952

43,541

48,793

48,793

48,793

Other

808

821

636

834

521

521

521

Current Assets

 

 

32,418

25,523

29,535

33,734

43,695

48,503

53,540

Stocks

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Debtors

30,322

25,251

28,888

31,839

40,923

41,847

42,254

Cash

2,096

272

647

1,895

2,772

6,656

11,286

Current Liabilities

 

 

(48,043)

(39,272)

(40,278)

(32,886)

(36,332)

(33,959)

(31,694)

Creditors

(8,797)

(5,842)

(7,218)

(7,640)

(8,324)

(8,636)

(8,771)

Other Creditors

(21,468)

(19,379)

(18,799)

(21,803)

(24,632)

(24,632)

(22,232)

Short term borrowings

(17,778)

(14,051)

(14,261)

(3,443)

(3,376)

(691)

(691)

Long Term Liabilities

 

 

(5,797)

(4,524)

(3,719)

(14,850)

(12,025)

(19,336)

(18,686)

Long term borrowings

0

(32)

(14)

(10,531)

(8,272)

(16,133)

(16,133)

Other long term liabilities

(5,797)

(4,492)

(3,705)

(4,319)

(3,753)

(3,203)

(2,553)

Net Assets

 

 

46,903

51,125

52,605

53,495

73,410

72,950

78,452

CASH FLOW

Operating Cash Flow

 

 

7,284

8,022

5,352

9,600

5,498

8,668

13,167

Net Interest

(839)

(820)

(848)

(950)

(783)

(1,100)

(700)

Tax

(1,312)

(1,217)

290

(264)

(688)

(1,460)

(2,094)

Capex

(3,160)

(4,613)

(4,487)

(4,564)

(5,573)

(5,500)

(5,050)

Acquisitions/disposals

(7,132)

(1,917)

(129)

(1,998)

(7,386)

(1,270)

0

Financing

5,026

2,677

277

69

13,175

0

0

Dividends

(214)

(286)

(316)

(397)

(477)

(630)

(693)

Net Cash Flow

(347)

1,846

139

1,496

3,766

(1,292)

4,630

Opening net debt/(cash)

 

 

15,486

15,682

13,811

13,628

12,079

8,876

10,168

HP finance leases initiated

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Other

151

25

44

53

(563)

0

0

Closing net debt/(cash)

 

 

15,682

13,811

13,628

12,079

8,876

10,168

5,538

Source: K3 Business Technology Group, Edison Investment Research

Edison is an investment research and advisory company, with offices in North America, Europe, the Middle East and AsiaPac. The heart of Edison is our world-renowned equity research platform and deep multi-sector expertise. At Edison Investment Research, our research is widely read by international investors, advisers and stakeholders. Edison Advisors leverages our core research platform to provide differentiated services including investor relations and strategic consulting. Edison is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Edison Investment Research (NZ) Limited (Edison NZ) is the New Zealand subsidiary of Edison. Edison NZ is registered on the New Zealand Financial Service Providers Register (FSP number 247505) and is registered to provide wholesale and/or generic financial adviser services only. Edison Investment Research Inc (Edison US) is the US subsidiary of Edison and is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Edison Investment Research Limited (Edison Aus) [46085869] is the Australian subsidiary of Edison and is not regulated by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission. Edison Germany is a branch entity of Edison Investment Research Limited [4794244]. www.edisongroup.com

DISCLAIMER
Copyright 2017 Edison Investment Research Limited. All rights reserved. This report has been commissioned by K3 Business Technology and prepared and issued by Edison for publication globally. All information used in the publication of this report has been compiled from publicly available sources that are believed to be reliable, however we do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of this report. Opinions contained in this report represent those of the research department of Edison at the time of publication. The securities described in the Investment Research may not be eligible for sale in all jurisdictions or to certain categories of investors. This research is issued in Australia by Edison Aus and any access to it, is intended only for "wholesale clients" within the meaning of the Australian Corporations Act. The Investment Research is distributed in the United States by Edison US to major US institutional investors only. Edison US is registered as an investment adviser with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Edison US relies upon the "publishers' exclusion" from the definition of investment adviser under Section 202(a)(11) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and corresponding state securities laws. As such, Edison does not offer or provide personalised advice. We publish information about companies in which we believe our readers may be interested and this information reflects our sincere opinions. The information that we provide or that is derived from our website is not intended to be, and should not be construed in any manner whatsoever as, personalised advice. Also, our website and the information provided by us should not be construed by any subscriber or prospective subscriber as Edison’s solicitation to effect, or attempt to effect, any transaction in a security. The research in this document is intended for New Zealand resident professional financial advisers or brokers (for use in their roles as financial advisers or brokers) and habitual investors who are “wholesale clients” for the purpose of the Financial Advisers Act 2008 (FAA) (as described in sections 5(c) (1)(a), (b) and (c) of the FAA). This is not a solicitation or inducement to buy, sell, subscribe, or underwrite any securities mentioned or in the topic of this document. This document is provided for information purposes only and should not be construed as an offer or solicitation for investment in any securities mentioned or in the topic of this document. A marketing communication under FCA Rules, this document has not been prepared in accordance with the legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and is not subject to any prohibition on dealing ahead of the dissemination of investment research.
Edison has a restrictive policy relating to personal dealing. Edison Group does not conduct any investment business and, accordingly, does not itself hold any positions in the securities mentioned in this report. However, the respective directors, officers, employees and contractors of Edison may have a position in any or related securities mentioned in this report. Edison or its affiliates may perform services or solicit business from any of the companies mentioned in this report. The value of securities mentioned in this report can fall as well as rise and are subject to large and sudden swings. In addition it may be difficult or not possible to buy, sell or obtain accurate information about the value of securities mentioned in this report. Past performance is not necessarily a guide to future performance. Forward-looking information or statements in this report contain information that is based on assumptions, forecasts of future results, estimates of amounts not yet determinable, and therefore involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of their subject matter to be materially different from current expectations. For the purpose of the FAA, the content of this report is of a general nature, is intended as a source of general information only and is not intended to constitute a recommendation or opinion in relation to acquiring or disposing (including refraining from acquiring or disposing) of securities. The distribution of this document is not a “personalised service” and, to the extent that it contains any financial advice, is intended only as a “class service” provided by Edison within the meaning of the FAA (ie without taking into account the particular financial situation or goals of any person). As such, it should not be relied upon in making an investment decision. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Edison, its affiliates and contractors, and their respective directors, officers and employees will not be liable for any loss or damage arising as a result of reliance being placed on any of the information contained in this report and do not guarantee the returns on investments in the products discussed in this publication. FTSE International Limited (“FTSE”) © FTSE 2017. “FTSE®” is a trade mark of the London Stock Exchange Group companies and is used by FTSE International Limited under license. All rights in the FTSE indices and/or FTSE ratings vest in FTSE and/or its licensors. Neither FTSE nor its licensors accept any liability for any errors or omissions in the FTSE indices and/or FTSE ratings or underlying data. No further distribution of FTSE Data is permitted without FTSE’s express written consent.

Frankfurt +49 (0)69 78 8076 960

Schumannstrasse 34b

60325 Frankfurt

Germany

London +44 (0)20 3077 5700

280 High Holborn

London, WC1V 7EE

United Kingdom

New York +1 646 653 7026

245 Park Avenue, 39th Floor

10167, New York

US

Sydney +61 (0)2 8249 8342

Level 12, Office 1205

95 Pitt Street, Sydney

NSW 2000, Australia

Frankfurt +49 (0)69 78 8076 960

Schumannstrasse 34b

60325 Frankfurt

Germany

London +44 (0)20 3077 5700

280 High Holborn

London, WC1V 7EE

United Kingdom

New York +1 646 653 7026

245 Park Avenue, 39th Floor

10167, New York

US

Sydney +61 (0)2 8249 8342

Level 12, Office 1205

95 Pitt Street, Sydney

NSW 2000, Australia

Edison is an investment research and advisory company, with offices in North America, Europe, the Middle East and AsiaPac. The heart of Edison is our world-renowned equity research platform and deep multi-sector expertise. At Edison Investment Research, our research is widely read by international investors, advisers and stakeholders. Edison Advisors leverages our core research platform to provide differentiated services including investor relations and strategic consulting. Edison is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Edison Investment Research (NZ) Limited (Edison NZ) is the New Zealand subsidiary of Edison. Edison NZ is registered on the New Zealand Financial Service Providers Register (FSP number 247505) and is registered to provide wholesale and/or generic financial adviser services only. Edison Investment Research Inc (Edison US) is the US subsidiary of Edison and is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Edison Investment Research Limited (Edison Aus) [46085869] is the Australian subsidiary of Edison and is not regulated by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission. Edison Germany is a branch entity of Edison Investment Research Limited [4794244]. www.edisongroup.com

DISCLAIMER
Copyright 2017 Edison Investment Research Limited. All rights reserved. This report has been commissioned by K3 Business Technology and prepared and issued by Edison for publication globally. All information used in the publication of this report has been compiled from publicly available sources that are believed to be reliable, however we do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of this report. Opinions contained in this report represent those of the research department of Edison at the time of publication. The securities described in the Investment Research may not be eligible for sale in all jurisdictions or to certain categories of investors. This research is issued in Australia by Edison Aus and any access to it, is intended only for "wholesale clients" within the meaning of the Australian Corporations Act. The Investment Research is distributed in the United States by Edison US to major US institutional investors only. Edison US is registered as an investment adviser with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Edison US relies upon the "publishers' exclusion" from the definition of investment adviser under Section 202(a)(11) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and corresponding state securities laws. As such, Edison does not offer or provide personalised advice. We publish information about companies in which we believe our readers may be interested and this information reflects our sincere opinions. The information that we provide or that is derived from our website is not intended to be, and should not be construed in any manner whatsoever as, personalised advice. Also, our website and the information provided by us should not be construed by any subscriber or prospective subscriber as Edison’s solicitation to effect, or attempt to effect, any transaction in a security. The research in this document is intended for New Zealand resident professional financial advisers or brokers (for use in their roles as financial advisers or brokers) and habitual investors who are “wholesale clients” for the purpose of the Financial Advisers Act 2008 (FAA) (as described in sections 5(c) (1)(a), (b) and (c) of the FAA). This is not a solicitation or inducement to buy, sell, subscribe, or underwrite any securities mentioned or in the topic of this document. This document is provided for information purposes only and should not be construed as an offer or solicitation for investment in any securities mentioned or in the topic of this document. A marketing communication under FCA Rules, this document has not been prepared in accordance with the legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and is not subject to any prohibition on dealing ahead of the dissemination of investment research.
Edison has a restrictive policy relating to personal dealing. Edison Group does not conduct any investment business and, accordingly, does not itself hold any positions in the securities mentioned in this report. However, the respective directors, officers, employees and contractors of Edison may have a position in any or related securities mentioned in this report. Edison or its affiliates may perform services or solicit business from any of the companies mentioned in this report. The value of securities mentioned in this report can fall as well as rise and are subject to large and sudden swings. In addition it may be difficult or not possible to buy, sell or obtain accurate information about the value of securities mentioned in this report. Past performance is not necessarily a guide to future performance. Forward-looking information or statements in this report contain information that is based on assumptions, forecasts of future results, estimates of amounts not yet determinable, and therefore involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of their subject matter to be materially different from current expectations. For the purpose of the FAA, the content of this report is of a general nature, is intended as a source of general information only and is not intended to constitute a recommendation or opinion in relation to acquiring or disposing (including refraining from acquiring or disposing) of securities. The distribution of this document is not a “personalised service” and, to the extent that it contains any financial advice, is intended only as a “class service” provided by Edison within the meaning of the FAA (ie without taking into account the particular financial situation or goals of any person). As such, it should not be relied upon in making an investment decision. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Edison, its affiliates and contractors, and their respective directors, officers and employees will not be liable for any loss or damage arising as a result of reliance being placed on any of the information contained in this report and do not guarantee the returns on investments in the products discussed in this publication. FTSE International Limited (“FTSE”) © FTSE 2017. “FTSE®” is a trade mark of the London Stock Exchange Group companies and is used by FTSE International Limited under license. All rights in the FTSE indices and/or FTSE ratings vest in FTSE and/or its licensors. Neither FTSE nor its licensors accept any liability for any errors or omissions in the FTSE indices and/or FTSE ratings or underlying data. No further distribution of FTSE Data is permitted without FTSE’s express written consent.

Frankfurt +49 (0)69 78 8076 960

Schumannstrasse 34b

60325 Frankfurt

Germany

London +44 (0)20 3077 5700

280 High Holborn

London, WC1V 7EE

United Kingdom

New York +1 646 653 7026

245 Park Avenue, 39th Floor

10167, New York

US

Sydney +61 (0)2 8249 8342

Level 12, Office 1205

95 Pitt Street, Sydney

NSW 2000, Australia

Frankfurt +49 (0)69 78 8076 960

Schumannstrasse 34b

60325 Frankfurt

Germany

London +44 (0)20 3077 5700

280 High Holborn

London, WC1V 7EE

United Kingdom

New York +1 646 653 7026

245 Park Avenue, 39th Floor

10167, New York

US

Sydney +61 (0)2 8249 8342

Level 12, Office 1205

95 Pitt Street, Sydney

NSW 2000, Australia

Research: Healthcare

Paion — On track to file in US and Japan by mid-2018

Paion has successfully accelerated recruitment in the confirmatory pivotal bronchoscopy study of its ultra-fast-acting sedative remimazolam in procedural sedation and has raised funds to support filing for general anaesthesia (GA) in Japan, putting it on track to file for approval in both the US (via partner Cosmo Pharmaceuticals) and Japan by mid-2018. It has also outlined a programme that could see it restart Phase III studies in GA in Europe (estimated cost €20-25m). Paion has sufficient cash to fund operations beyond end 2018 but would need additional funds to restart the Europe development programme (potentially from Cosmo milestones and a licence deal in Japan). We lift our valuation slightly to €214m (vs €208m).

Continue Reading

Subscribe to Edison

Get access to the very latest content matched to your personal investment style.

Sign up for free