I Liked MMG & Enact on Ofex, however not a fan of Ximed or Biogeny.

However there is another one.

105 year old company that probably a few haven't noticed has changed direction, Relugas as was, changed in 2000 & then no one has been interested as the bear market has taken hold.


However, the best time to take stakes is to invest when no one wants to invest, because you will get value ....since then since march last year the market has picked up strongly.

Look at MMG up 8 fold, Protherics (ex Enact) rise every month, Ximed has zoomed to 21m mkt cap.


This company is valued at a tiny 0.72m, but has 4 investments so far,(with 2 more to come i believe) net cash, & assets include investments at cost.

I quote

quote:
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It seems that diagnostics has now
become rather more attractive to early stage investors so there is some
investor competition for new businesses holding strong patents on particularly
attractive prospects.


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Furthermore it may raise a significant sum of cash...I quote:

quote:
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However, as I stated at the time of the interim figures, your directors are
very aware that our company needs to raise a substantial fund to take advantage
of some of the more interesting biotechnology/life sciences prospects.
Unfortunately the market for raising funds has been particularly difficult
during the past eighteen months but there are now signs of a more positive
sentiment especially following the substantial amount of money raised by
Schroder Ventures for this sector a few weeks ago. We have already prepared an
Information Memorandum as a draft for a significant fund raising as soon as
conditions are appropriate.

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So it may become much more highlighted on investors radar screens on the above completion.



Furthermore it has some exciting investments which must have patents & IP & has turned down over 250 from various prominent Universities throughout the country.


One for instance which has a much shorter lead time for start up & revenue generation is Bio Analysis

A spin out from Oxford University it offers a Bio Analytical service to pharmaceuticals for the measurement of monoclonal antibodies in clinical trial studies....mono antibodies are a rapidly growing sector and the drugs whose development is extremely demanding offer some of the most effective new treatments for a wider range of disease.

Cherwell owns 9.2% of this Co & as I say it's at cost in the balance sheet.


It also has a 3% stake in a company that develops a miniaturised satellite location & tracking device with built in telemetry. Applications can monitor valuable goods, children, people with Altzimers etc.

Another stake is in a company which helps the brain learn languages easier.

For more information download the Annual report from the Ofex site.

Also commitments for another 2 investments.




It occurs to me, while all other stocks have had a re-rating in this sector Cherwell may have been ignored,

1) It was a different Co for 102 years.
2) It changed direction just three years ago when big bear started
3) Who knows of it as a pure Bio play (see Ofex for accurate description)


So for me you can keep your 21m mkt cap Ximed...not saying it won't do well, but the excitement of a 720,000 mkt cap, with blue sky potential is more my cup of tea.


To my mind the stakes although I can't say with expert opinion, are probably way more valuable than the balance sheet suggests, but of course, they may be worth very little, it appears they have close links with the University of Oxford & indeed have a small Office in the City, so they may have a close relationship, this in itself is adds value in my opinion.


Also Note running cost are very reasonable, a company with a long history & then chnage of direction is just the sort of situation that sometimes (but only sometimes) develops into a very decent winner.

Like to detail your research, unless you can it has no substance.