goldfinger
- 22 Oct 2003 16:09
Yes I know Im on holiday so Ill make it quick. Just had a phone call and an e- mail from a City pal of mine and hes drooling over this company. Hes a trust worthy chap and has given me some fantastic tips over the last 10 years.
Hes going on about it being a ten bagger, but I dont like that kind of talk, best to just see how the market rates it. He says theres going to be a lot of news flow so that should provide for a momentum driven price. Have to say I have never known him quite so excited about a stock. Ive just gone in and bought a nice holding.
Heres the e-mail he sent me. It might be worth your while having a dabble. Citywire seem to think its going to be a hit.
Health minnow makes strong return to market
Published: 11:51 Wed 22 Oct 2003
By Joanne Wallen, Associate Editor
Email to a friend
The chief of Healthcare Enterprise Group sold his last business to private healthcare firm Bupa and he's now raring to go again; the business may be worth a second look.
Shares in the 24 million AIM-listed business were suspended in August pending a couple of key acquisitions, and returned to the market on Monday after the deals were announced.
Healthcare Enterprise Group (HCEG) (HCEG) paid a total of 11.5 million for the Safa Group and Industrial Pharmaceutical Service (IPS) as well as a 60.7% stake in SafaTec. The company raised a total of 10 million via a placing of shares at 1p to fund the acquisitions and also took on 3.5 million of bank debt.
Chairman Stuart Bruck, who previously founded private medical services business Barbican, which he sold to Bupa in January 1999, is hoping to build a significant business providing medical services to corporate customers. He is hoping to be a consolidator in what he told Citywire is a very fragmented market.
Both Safa and IPS provide first aid kits, training, first aid suites and a host of other medical and occupational health services to large corporate customers such as British Airways, Marks & Spencer, BT, Sainsbury and government procurement agency OGC. Both companies also have advanced 'replenishment systems,' which enable companies to maintain adequate supplies to satisfy UK health and safety legislation.
Bruck said these acquisitions would provide a 'platform' for further acquisitions.
The company had previously accrued minority stakes in a total of 14 small healthcare services companies in the UK and the US. In March it listed on AIM by reversing into a cash shell.
Bruck said the minority stakes offered it an entry into the market, but the company has now decided to focus on wholly operating and owning businesses. It has therefore identified four of its US businesses that it would like to buy the remaining stakes in. These are all within a two hour drive of the company's Los Angeles office, and would be run from there.
The company has also 'packaged up' the remaining eight businesses with a view to selling each of its minority stakes. Bruck said the pricing being talked about is already ahead of the indicative pricing given in March.
Safa and IPS apparently already have a 30% share of the corporate medical services market in the UK. They are both cash generative from operating activities. Both companies are based in the North of England and do not have a huge penetration in London, where Bruck believes the company has 'a huge opportunity.'
He reckons they have so far penetrated around 50% of the FTSE 100, and therefore have a 'great client base' to which they should be able to sell additional services.
SafaTec has interests in a number of early stage companies that have developed some innovative healthcare products and technologies, which the company is hoping to commercialise. For example, Safa has secured a sole international distribution agreement with Ebiox, a manufacturer of a unique decontaminant and cleansing product range based on a patented formula. SafaTec UK has a 35% interest in Ebiox and HCEG is negotiating to acquire a controlling interest for the enlarged Group.
Bruck does not expect to make any more major acquisitions in the next year or so, but thinks there are a lot of small players that the company might be able to mop up.
'This is very exciting, I am looking forward to digging in,' he said.
Shares are currently at 1.7p.
Citywire Verdict:
The corporate healthcare market is becoming increasingly regulated, which favours HCEG. Bruck's track record should also be worth buying into.
The corporate structure looks pretty complicated at present with all of the minority shareholdings, but Bruck now seems keen to get the point quickly where HCEG controls the majority of the businesses it operates.
This is obviously early days, but for anyone that fancies a speculative punt on a penny share, HCEG is worth a second look.ENDS.
Well it looks very good to me although its a speculative punt, what isnt in the markets today. Good chance to get on board aswell on a bad day.
Please DYOR. You are responsible for your own buying and selling actions.
GF.
dclinton
- 30 Mar 2005 10:55
- 220 of 316
I've been in HCEG for some time. The price has dropped through my 15% soft-stop-loss and I need to decide whether to cut and run with the profit I have left. The lack of news is worrying but I've been over to ADVFN and had a read there and, as you say, it looks like tree shaking.
The price seems to have stabalized at about 95 for the moment and I agree that good news should lift these again. From the chart, looks like a simple 50% retracement of the recent surge so I'll hold.
Doug
ateeq180
- 30 Mar 2005 15:22
- 221 of 316
Where do any one think the price can go and is it a strong buy?
Troys
- 30 Mar 2005 15:29
- 222 of 316
155p is the figure banted about. LOL DYOR
ateeq180
- 30 Mar 2005 15:32
- 223 of 316
thanx
upanddown
- 30 Mar 2005 16:26
- 224 of 316
began picking up today bid been upto 108bid /112offer thought they would return now around 100p bid stil up on day at present have seen elsewhere and looks as MW may be updating shortly on his website,but only gossip.
Here is what Numis stated.
Buy
118p
Target Price: 155p
Market Capitalisation 177m
Shares in issue 150m
Healthcare Enterprise* Based on market rating for 06/7
Update to forecasts
We last published forecasts on this company in our note of 16th December, and since that date, the shares have been recapitalised on the basis of one share for every 25 held then.
Since December there have been a number of published developments, and the company has been very busy in seeking out new business, as well as developing its portfolio.
Its business model appears to be proving successful, with good cash flow from its occupational health and first aid business, financing the development of a number of exciting new products, generally coming out of various incubator systems.
The company appears now to be making excellent progress across the business, with its distribution operation going well, and a rapid early build-up in orders for Ebiox, plus positive developments from products in development, particularly Optiscope.
As a result of these positive developments, we feel that there is now a need to revise
upwards our earlier forecasts, and on the basis of anticipated further success with orders for Ebiox in particular, we expect significant profits for the financial year just started, plus substantial growth over the next couple of years.
If anyone can tell what has changed if nothing then we are at bargain prices.
ethel
- 30 Mar 2005 22:07
- 225 of 316
The upsurge in Avian Flu...again...Ebiox???
Wait till elections over in U.K....NHS contracts...yes
Strong sp considering rest of market...one of my favorites...weakness yesterday due to issue of new shares?
I shall be very interested to see what the morrow brings...been waiting for some news from HCEG for a while now.
Ethel
upanddown
- 30 Mar 2005 22:45
- 226 of 316
Gossip states there is a cracking write up on www.michaelwalters.com tonight, anyone seen it, or in their own words post,please and not word for word from the site as it will offend.
If the above statement correct we'd better hold onto our hats.
substp
- 16 Apr 2005 18:52
- 227 of 316
This is some great news !
I emailed Dr. Gordon Woods today about the S.D.A and this was his answer :
( Check out his new American address as well )
Thanks for your e-mail.
We are indeed aware of the SDA, which is an organisation primarily for US based manufacturers.
Our Group Operations Director Paul Stuart (whom joined us from Bierdorf Smith & Nephew) has just returned from the US where he has finalised a manufacturing contract with a company called Custom Chemicals Inc. whom will begin to manufacture Ebiox for us in The United States.
As sales volumes in the US begin to increase, it no longer makes sense for us to manufacture the products in the UK and ship to the US (they have enough water of their own!)
Myself and Paul will travel to China next month with a view to establishing manufacturing facilities there for similar logistical and commercial reasons.
I can confirm that Custom Chemicals are members of the SDA.
Kind Regards
Dr.Gordon A Wood
Chief Executive Officer
Healthcare Enterprise Group PLC
optomistic
- 16 Apr 2005 19:06
- 228 of 316
That is the very best of news!!
Thanks substp
jj50
- 16 Apr 2005 22:03
- 229 of 316
Does sound like good news!
However, I have been visiting hospital in Edinburgh daily
for some weeks (Scotland appears to have quite an MRSA problem) and
although signs on wards say "visitors should wash hands on entry
and leaving wards") the gel handwash sadly does not appear to be
Ebiox.
optomistic
- 16 Apr 2005 23:59
- 230 of 316
jj, I do hope that the health authorities in general and Dr Reid in particular are fully aware of the MRSA problem in Scotland. It would be sad to think that any adverse MRSA figures are being witheld from the public eye.
As to the non use of Ebiox my personal view is that it is down to finance, the cheaper product has the 'edge'........regretable but this is often the case until it is too late.
zscrooge
- 17 Apr 2005 22:06
- 231 of 316
Isn't it because NHS insists on alcohol based handwash? And in any case, HCEG is after big stuff ie USA and the East and is far ahead here.
substp
- 20 Apr 2005 08:57
- 232 of 316
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/default.stm
substp
- 20 Apr 2005 11:44
- 233 of 316
RNS Number:2788L
Healthcare Enterprise Group PLC
20 April 2005
Healthcare Enterprise Group
Announcement of Notifiable Interest of Shares
Healthcare Enterprise Group PLC ("HCEG") was notified on 19 April 2005 that FMR
Corp and its direct and indirect subsidiaries, and Fidelity International
Limited (FIL) and its direct and indirect subsidiaries, both being
non-beneficial holders, have an interest of 6,012,334 ordinary shares in HCEG,
being approximately 4.0% of the issued share capital of the HCEG of 150,354,079
ordinary shares.
20 April 2005
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
Troys
- 20 Apr 2005 11:55
- 234 of 316
This is good news. LOL
zscrooge
- 24 Apr 2005 21:14
- 235 of 316
Healthcare Enterprise answer to superbugs
24 April 2005
THE MRSA hospital superbug has become a hot General Election issue. Actress Leslie Ash, who nearly died after contracting a similar virus, has taken up the cause by leading a campaign to improve cleanliness in the NHS.
Whether she will be as successful as celebrity chef Jamie Oliver was in his crusade over school meals has yet to be seen. But with hospital bugs claiming 5,000 lives each year, this is an issue that no Government can afford to ignore.
One company well placed to benefit from this greater awareness of superbugs is Healthcare Enterprise. It has a unique cleaning agent, Ebiox, which has a wide range of applications. The germicide is effective against numerous organisms, including MRSA, but unlike other methods of hand cleaning, which involve abrasive alcohol-based agents, it has no toxicity problems. The basic patent runs until 2019.
Healthcare already supplies Ebiox as a surface wipe to about 80 UK hospitals. But given the scale of the superbug crisis, chairman Stuart Bruck is at a loss to explain why orders from the NHS for its Ebiox hand rub, whose efficacy is not in doubt, have yet to materialise.
But instead of blaming sclerotic NHS bureaucracy for the delay, Bruck is busy winning sizeable orders elsewhere. Significant contracts include one for pharmaceutical clean rooms in America, while interest in Asia is high, not least because Ebiox also acts against the bird-flu virus.
Potential orders from these and other markets, including household and dental, run into hundreds of millions of pounds and such is the confidence in the future that Healthcare recently bought out the minority stake in Ebiox.
But Healthcare is more than just a one-product firm. It has other products in development, notably Optiscope, which is a cheap, disposable endoscope for use in keyhole surgery. Patented until 2023, Optiscope is in the prototype stage and will target users of the 250m global market for conventional endoscopes, which are expensive to make and difficult to clean.
Midas verdict: Valuing a company such as Healthcare is difficult and forecasts are tentative. But based on research by the company's broker, Numis, Healthcare is expected to make a small profit this year, which could rise to 8.5m in 2006 and 28m the year after.
That would put the shares, now 99p, on a price-to-earnings multiple of 30, falling to just nine for 2007. While the risks associated with investing in a company like this cannot be understated, we believe Healthcare has an exciting product range and rate the shares a speculative buy.
• Midas is Edited by Patrick Tooher
upanddown
- 25 Apr 2005 07:06
- 236 of 316
seeing as it has been tipped and also following the Newsnight feature in which HCEG was pretty prominent and also believe there is a piece on the MW boards things are looking up could be an interesting week.
ateeq180
- 25 Apr 2005 16:43
- 237 of 316
Another one to keep an eye on i think.
substp
- 11 May 2005 08:31
- 238 of 316
MeDilator :
http://v3.espacenet.com/textdoc?DB=EPODOC&IDX=AU2003224416&F=0
seawatcher
- 12 May 2005 07:58
- 239 of 316
Yet more excellent news from HCEG
RNS Number:2065M
Healthcare Enterprise Group PLC
12 May 2005
HCEG formalises commercial presence in Japan
HCEG, the international healthcare products and services company has established a branch office in Tokyo, Japan. This office will trade to the healthcare, industrial, institutional and consumer markets.
The branch will be managed by Mr Yuta Ito. Mr Ito is a highly experienced healthcare products professional who is both well known and well respected in the Japanese healthcare market. He has over 20 years sector experience, most latterly with IMI and Heart Laboratories - both of which specialise in the field of medical devices.
Mr Ito will report directly to Group CEO, Gordon Wood.
Stuart Bruck, Executive Chairman, HCEG, commented:
"The significant interest for our products in Japan has necessitated the establishment of our own presence in this, the world's second largest economy.
"We are delighted to have secured the services of yet another high calibre individual who can assist us in both the commercial and technical processes unique to the Japanese market, and the establishment of distribution partners for our products across a number of market sectors."