Bought a few of these as the news seems to be getting better and I am sure we have now seen the bottom

ains




Maelor Approved to Hold CE Marks


Maelor plc, the AIM quoted specialist healthcare products company, is pleased to
announce that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Maelor Pharmaceuticals Limited, has
been certified to hold its own CE Marks for medical devices associated with
sterile catheter irrigation solutions.


Maelor CEO Stephen Appelbee said:


'This approval is important because it will enable us to develop and launch our
own product brands using a Maelor CE Mark. This now allows us to accelerate the
launch programme of our range of sterile catheter irrigation solutions into
several worldwide markets under our own brand. Now that we have established our
certified status it will be a straightforward process to extend this to other
devices being developed from our pipeline.


It is also formal recognition that Maelor maintains the highest quality
standards in the development and manufacture of its products

This from Growth Company Investor today...slow and steady will win the race ! might take another year or two but worth holding on to (imho)

Medicines group makes its mark

After a disappointing decade on AIM, specialist hospital medicines company Maelor is finally making its mark, having moved from loss to profit at the interim. Undergoing a revival under new management, the May acquisition of Acorus Therapeutics further transformed the business and provided a platform for growth.

Floated on AIM at 88p back in 1997, Maelor had promised much throughout its AIM life but only started to deliver under the current management team headed up by Tim Wright, who became chief executive in 2005. Wright had recognised that the business was too small to become a profitable quoted company and that was a key reason behind the acquisition of Acorus, which created a profitable and cash-generative group and has also given us a much broader geographic spread, according to Wright.

Unlike most small health and pharma ventures, Maelor has a solid portfolio of revenue-generating, profitable products, as well as others in development that should provide potential upside. From an investors point of view, this represents a refreshing change from blue-sky businesses without revenues to cover their costs, where the emphasis is on products that have yet to see the light of day.

The Maelor product portfolio includes Volplex, which is used to treat low blood volumes as a result of surgery and provides a good example of a niche product with limited competition. Sales are growing fast and Volplexs market share has quickly increased from 16 to 26 per cent. There is one competitor in the market, with Volplex marketed through part of the National Blood Service on a revenue-sharing basis.

Other revenue generators include anaesthetising spray Cryogesic, epilepsy and tremor treatment Mysoline and Optiflow, which is used to clean urinary catheters. Maelor recently acquired the UK rights to Aloxi, a treatment for nausea and vomiting brought on by chemotherapy, which is set for launch in March 2008. And with Wright building up the companys sales team, there is scope to sell more products.

Wright emphasises Maelors pipeline of new treatments for niche markets, many of which will be launched over the next two years. Dermogesic is a non-flammable version of Cryogesic, Haemopressin is a treatment for bleeding caused by conditions such as cirrhosis, Acoranil is a liquid version of an existing anti-depressant and AquiHex counteracts hospital infections.

Maelor has net cash of 1.7 million but there are 3.48 million of loan notes on the balance sheet related to the Acorus acquisition. These will be paid over five years and the business will generate more than enough cash flow to cover these payments, leaving Maelor strongly positioned to make further acquisitions rights acquisitions such as the Aloxi deal dont require much money up front. Wright says he is looking to bulk up the business, but he wont do deals for the sake of it.

In a good sign for investors, Wright has added to his holding since the results, buying 145,000 shares at 13.75p each to increase his stake to just under one per cent. He has enough share options at 10p a time to more than quadruple his shareholding. These cant be exercised until 8 May 2010 at the earliest. By then, Wright should, hopefully, be even more in the money than he is now.

Analysts see Maelor, which made nearly 700,000 profit on revenues of 3.1 million in the first six months, posting profits of 1.38 million this year ahead of 2 million in 2009, placing the shares on modest forward earnings multiples of 15.3 and 10.6. Maelor is on the right course and should look even cheaper if management can pick up further astute acquisitions like Acorus.


Recommendation: Buy
Ticker: MLR
Sector: Health care and related services
Listing: AIM
Mid-price: 13.5p
Market cap:16.78m