JOBS LOST IN FIRM'S U.S. MOVE

DAVID ELKS

12:00 - 02 July 2003

A Medical research company has shut down its South Cheshire headquarters, despite winning 900,000 of orders for technology to help fight the deadly Sars virus. An undisclosed number of staff at Crewe-based Osmetech have been made redundant after the company transferred its research operations to America.

The news comes as the company reported a boom in sales of a blood gas analyser to China over the past month to monitor patients with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars).
A spokesman for Osmetech, which employs 38 staff at the town's business park, said the decision followed a 2.2 million deal to take over pharmaceutical giant Roche's sensor division OPTI in March.
He said: "When they bought the company they also took on about 50 new staff involved in research and marketing.
"It was felt that Osmetech is still a fairly small company and having research operations split between the two sites was not efficient."

Following the move, the majority of research will now be conducted at OPTI's headquarters in Atlanta, while the company's registered headquarters has shifted to London.
This will enable the company to continue its listing on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market. The executive directors will also be based in London.
The spokesman said that a number of workers in the North-West of England will remained involved in research while working from home.

The news comes as the company confirmed it had picked up 910,000 of orders for its equipment following the Sars virus outbreak in the Far East.
The handheld device cannot diagnose the virus, although it has optical sensors which can measure vital bodily conditions during treatment of its pneumonia-like symptoms. It measures blood gas, electrolyte and metabolite levels and can be used for measuring the oxygen saturation and acid-base balance in Sars patients.
Osmetech said this would be particularly useful in cases where treatment required the use of a ventilator for "supplemental oxygen" therapy.

The deal will help Osmetech, which is estimated by analysts Evolution Beeson Gregory to suffer losses of 3.2 million in the current financial year, push its way towards profitability. The orders received this month are already 10 times higher than the last financial year.

In January the company confirmed it had won approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its sensor, which uses electronics technology to 'sniff' out bacteria which can cause miscarriages - a market worth between 900 million and 1.2 billion in the U.S.

The group cut losses by 20 per cent to 533,000 in the six months to January and is due to report its annual figures on July 30.

david.elks@thesentinel.co.uk

An interesting post from elsewhere today:

witten - 4 Feb'04 - 12:56


I have just now had a conversation with David Sandilands which I have found to be most encouraging. I asked about the UTI and he said that at the moment it was not at the forefront of their immediate plans. UTI would need further investment which OMH were not prepared to get involved in at the present time whilst there were and are far better and immediate commercial products to bring to the market during the next 6-18 months. OMH have done extremely well from the OPTI and intend to develop and market other products. The EVO estimates were based on the interims and they were not privy to any other information which could have led to their conclusions. Therefore any future deals would be in addition to these estimates. DS said that he would be most surprised if they did not do 15m per annum in 1-2 years time. They would always try to inform the market as to what was going on but obviously could not and would not inform the market in areas where the information was too sensitive in respect of their competition.
IMHO there is an extremely rosy period ahead. OMH are making decisions based on commercial feasibility and this I applaud wholeheartedly.


With thanks to 'witten'

Osmetech PLC
05 February 2004


Osmetech plc ('the Company')

Directors' Interests

The Company was informed on 4 February 2004 that on 4 February 2004, Mr James
White, a director of the Company, had purchased 220,000 ordinary shares of 1p
each ('Ordinary Shares') representing 0.04 per cent. of the issued share capital
of the Company at a price of 4.5p per share and that Mr. Gordon Hall, the
non-executive Chairman had purchased 110,000 Ordinary shares representing 0.02
per cent. of the issued share capital of the Company at a price of 4.5p per
share on the same date. Following this transaction Mr. White has an interest in
1,509,500 Ordinary Shares representing 0.26 per cent. of the issued share
capital of the Company and Mr. Hall has an interest in 763,946 Ordinary Shares
representing 0.13 per cent. of the issued share capital of the Company.




This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

Will Mr Sandilands be the next one to buy after his bullish statement? If so, then OMH is starting to look like a company due for spectacular growth over the next couple of years.

Still chance to buy into this company at less than 5p, if it is good enough for the directors to buy at 4.5p it is good enough for me. I have bought this morning and am expecting a reasonable profit over the next few months.

From the "Investor's Cronicle"


OSMETECH - GOOD VALUE

Osmetech has been transformed by last April's $2.75m acquisition of Roche's OPTI blood-gas analysers. OPTI has fortified the business with a revenue stream, a decent product pipeline and a quality distribution network. Blood-gas analysers test the levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood, as well as the pH or acidity, to determine the effectiveness of the respiratory system. Due to the SARS outbreak, OPTI made $1m of sales to China, meaning total revenues of $5.58m far exceeded expectations. The extra business has allowed it to plough more cash into research and development. In all, five new product launches are expected in 2004, including a reusable device with 50 tests on one cartridge.
Osmetech is now targeting larger hospitals because they conduct more tests and use more high margin consumables. It will use OPTI's presence in the GP market as a launch platform for it's own device, an all in one test for the five most common vaginal infections. Brokers expect a pre-tax loss of 1.8m for the full year.


I/C VIEW - With OPTI on board, Osmetech could be a profitable business right now. Instead it has chosen to invest in it's future, ploughing the profits back into snazzy new products that will help boost it's 14% share of the near-patient market blood gas analysers. Come 2006 that strategy should pay off. GOOD VALUE.

only dirs keep on buying and share price stays above a 5.5p base justify the story-changed call,then the company will growths bigger,or swallowed up by a bigger fish! I `m a long term fan of this com., and i also like to trade the stock.,DYOR!DYOR! If my anticipation is correct,next level price range starts from 5-13p and soon be arrived. SBR.

sbr,

Volume still looks healthy and the post-results dip has quickly been wiped out, this suggests there is a good level of confidence in the company with lots of new buyers coming in. Looks like a steady rise to just under 5p, then a small dip and then a sustained push upwards into 8p territory. We'll soon be looking at "20p next?" messages on the BB's.

Quote from "prof" on iii:

"This share is ready to take off...all the signs are there....strong cash position, revenue on stream, PR campaign underway, future products due to be launched and the VIP5 waiting around the corner." - Exactly my sentiments as a long term investor.

Still plenty of short term trading opportunities also - best of luck.

OG

og,
I did an OBV on this stock just from Dec/03 till now,volume ok,in positive territory,accum. pattern in place,if price break 26/1/04 high & volume match or surpass its previous level,it is a very rosy picture then. As i mention before,when the firm establish its growth phase,we are in a big winner!
rgds SBR.

"Shares" mag write up 5 Feb


OSMETECH (OMH) - 4.8P

The e-nose developer has transformed itself from a R&D based biotech to a company with revenues, thanks to it's acquistion of OPTI last year. Losses were slashed to 584,000 from 2 million last year. The company also racked up sales of 3.4 million, thanks to OPTI product sales, particulary boosted by a $1 million SARS-related order delivered to China of it's blood gas analyser instruments. Although these sales are unlikely to be replicated this year, Osmetech told Shares the rise of respiratory diseasa in Asia is likely to support further sales growth. Costs will be higher in the second half due to product launch costs. (PT)


Shares says:

Osmetech has turned the itself around - product launches may boost shares.

OG, What & where can the BB's be found. Also what is prof on iii?

SBR, What is an OBV?

Regards

MB

This is the link to the discussion!
http://www.iii.co.uk/investment/detail?display=discussion&code=cotn:OMH.L&it=le

Free registration required!

Fly by Night

Red

MB,
OBV is "on balance volume",just an indicator which try to tell who is the BOSS at the time being.Generally speaking ,not much useful for analyst a small/tiny firm like OMH.Because JUST a big buy/Sell order can change the whole picture completely! But until that happen,you may guess who is the dominant group. rgds SBR.

from the iii board by "Professor Higgins"


"Brummell

Thanks for the analysis much appreciated....my research and analysis also arrives at the 10p plus area...it is the timing of the arrival in this area that I am now constructing...using set release dates of finals and suggested timings of release of new products....all a little subjective but I have been right in the past..thats why i invested further funds on the 29th dec before the rush with a target of 4.5p.

The wild card is news of further contracts eg Thailand etc and when I mean new contracts I mean new sales rather than reagents doubles up profit as reagents will ne needed further down the line.

My assumption is that there will be at least one 'wild card' piece of news before finals...this will help accelerate the price past 5p and settle arround the 6/7p range....The FDA submission is due within the next month or so from my research and again this will add momentum....The finals will show improved sales but more reinvestment into the up and coming product line ...the lead up to the finals will see the share price move to a solid base of 10p etc...so summer will see a radically different share price with still considerable news to come in the latter half.....now this is where it gets interesting...

on the basis of the dates suggested by the interims product launches will occur in the last quarter...it would be prudent to assume that initial contracts will be achieved on or near product launch due to premarketing, OMH exposure through SARs and Bird virus related news...this will propel the share price into new waters...the difficult part as I have already said in previous comments is difficult to predict...and i will work this into my projections after finals are released...gut feel will be a similar rise seen by other certain companies who have moved from development to product launch....200/300% moves are not unknown...and this would derive a share price around 30p to 40p...well lets see.

Caution - There will be plenty of healthy pull backs and these should be seen as buying opportunities once the pattern is established (we are seeing it now with the share price trading well within the bid and offer prices and then the MMs reduce the offer to make it look like it is falling...however the price is consolidating around 4.5p...all that is happening is that some investors are being tempted to pay a higher price thinking good value but then see the offer price fall backn - any offer price below 4.5p would be a good price to buy for a medium/long term holder)

variables

New contracts for SARS and Bird Flu
New contracts for new product launches
Timing of FDA submission and sanction
Further progress with VIP5 to Asian countries and progress through any European body (version of USA FDA)
Any takeover activity (very doubtful at this time)

Anyway just a few thoughts. DYOR and be patient.

The Prof"

Can anyone explain all the activity on this one today?

Thanks,

Madison

OMH`s price supose to move from end/march-begin/april for its mini cycle,seems happen early this time!? But i won`t joint the party yet,patient is the name of the game. :))

does anyone know when osmetech q1 starts