Anybody else out there interested in these?

2002 Results are due in April, and they are expected to show a maiden profit.
Last week I opened a small speculative long (spreadbet), but I am looking to add to this position a lot more if we get any sort of resolution over Iraq crisis before the results which should spark a broad market rally from which SKP could really benefit and have a strong run-up.

DYOR etc.


Here is a recent research note from Merrill Lynch (they estimate 0.25p EPS for 2002):


Merrill Lynch FlashNote

7 February 2003

SkyePharma

Newsflow Set To Continue BUY

Reason for Report: Company Update

EPS (Dec): 2001A -1.19p; 2002E 0.25p; 2003E 2.13p
P/E (Dec): 2001A NM; 2002E 180.0x; 2003E 21.1x

Michael Ashton, CEO SkyePharma, gave an upbeat and informative presentation today.

Depomorphine appears on track for US submission in June 03. The two pivotal trials (hip and lower abdominal surgery) have been concluded. To date, the results appear encouraging. Management believe that safety (eg respiratory depression and nausea) is not an issue for the drug.The company is also conducting an additional trial in C section patients which is completing enrollment and should be included in the European submission for Depomorphine later this year. We expect the pivotal trial data for Depomorphine to be presented at the American Society of Clinical Anaesthesiologists in October 2003.

Paxil CR continues to grow (accounting for c.26% of total Paxil scrips in the US). 50% of these Paxil CR scrips are repeat and Paxil CR accounts for c.7% of the total SSRI antidepressant market in the US. Paxil CR is already filed for pre-menstrual dysphoria disorder (PMDD). However, GSK also plans to submit the intermittent treatment of PMDD later this year.

SKP also confirmed that Quintiles plans to present new data for Solaraze at the American Society of Dermatology in March. SKP believes that Solaraze is making in-roads into the actinic keratosis market and appears to be taking market share from Ephedrex (5-FU). Clinical trials in Australia are on track, with SKP planning to submit Solaraze to the Australian regulatory authorities in 2004 (second largest market opportunity after the US).

Enzon has already started to market DepoCyt in the US and SKP expects to see wider usage of the drug by key oncologists in the next few months. Phase IV studies for the neoplastic meningitis indication are on track, with an FDA Advisory Committee meeting (ODAC) scheduled next month.

Overall, we expect the newsflow for SKP to continue and reiterate our BUY recommendation with a price objective of 80p (based on applying the speciality pharma multiple to our 06E EPS of 14p and discounting back agressively at 30% p.a.). Risks to the stock include the general risk of drug development delay and product approval failure.

I have added to my long position this morning and looking forward to results on the 2nd April.
Good luck to all holders

If anyone wants an excellent introduction to this company and their products you can listen to a webcast of yesterday presentation at SG Cowans Annual Healthcare Conference found at this link


http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=SKYE&script=1010&item_id=719277

FTSE 250 risers

SkyePharma 45-3/4 up 3

Merrill Lynch 'buy' with 80 pence price target
..............................................



results next wednesday

doh! im gonna buy some now

Not too late to jump on board Homer,
looks like some others are just cottoning-on:


28 Mar 2003 13:50 GMT

SkyePharma rises on hopes of maiden profit

LONDON, March 28 (Reuters) - Shares in Britain's SkyePharma Plc rallied on Friday as analysts raised hopes the drug delivery specialist would report its first full-year profit next Wednesday and stay in the black thereafter.
The shares had climbed 7.6 percent to 46 pence by 1345 GMT, valuing the business at around 279 million pounds ($435.8 million).

Joint house broker Merrill Lynch said in a note to clients it expected SkyePharma to make a profit of 200,000 pounds for 2002, compared with a loss of 9.5 million in 2001.

The investment bank is also forecasting net profit of 15 million pounds for 2003, driven by milestone payments as SkyePharma clinches a European partner for its biggest new drug hope, painkiller Depomorphine.

SkyePharma, which made a four million-pound loss at the half-year stage, said in January it did not know for sure whether it would post a profit for 2002 as it signed two other drug partnering deals.

As both deals were signed at the end of December, the firm hopes to recognise some of the revenue from them in 2002.

"People have been looking for this for a while (a move to sustainable profitability), and this time I think we're going to see it," said Keith Redpath, an analyst at WestLB Panmure. He is forecasting 2002 pre-tax profit of about one million pounds.

not long to go now

Good write up in yesterdays The Business

maiden profit of 1.33 mln. nice one skp, congrat to the managment

Do any of the previous holders of this share still do so? I have been holding for the long term (for a while now) and still feel this share has further to run. However, the share price has had a great run of late since its disappointing summer announcements. The only recent positive news I can find relates to its filing for a patent on Depomorphine, which doesn't seem to justify its latest rise. Does anyone know any more ?

Another contract tie up, this time with Novartis for one of their asthma drugs, on the back of the depomorphine announcement, has perked the shares up again. Any other holders/opinions out there?

We have one big problem with SKP, a past director, Dr Gonnella, a major shareholder is selling on any rise. So far he has sold millions of shares, trouble is, he has still got 40 million more ready no doubt for the next good piece of news.

Skp have some major products on the market and many more due, but as long as Gonnella is there we have to be patient!

Recent RNS, Fidelity have increased their holding again, they now hold 11.93%. They also hold 5,000,000 6% convertible bonds due 2005.

Ian Gowrie Smith is standing down as chief exec to become a non exec director. Wonder what impact this is going to have - hopefully a positive one as he has never been well liked by the city and been deemed to be holding the share price back! Maybe he is making way before the takeover approach (wishful thinking on my part i believe). Still with the right man at the helm, things could certainly be looking up at SKP (all imho). Share price in US appears not to have reacted to the news!


LONDON (AFX) - Skyepharma PLC said Ian Gowrie-Smith will step down from his executive role as a chairman to a non-executive role at the company's next annual general meeting in 2004.
This will enable Gowrie-Smith to concentrate on his other business interests, including Triple Plate Junction PLC whose fund-raising and intention to join the Alternative Investment market are being announced today. He is a non-executive chairman of the gold exploration and mining company.
Gowrie-Smith said: "It has been a great challenge to start and then build first Medeva and now SkyePharma. However it is in the earlier stages of a company's development where I believe I can make the greatest contribution."


also, more news re Paxil CR today:



LONDON (AFX) - SkyePharma PLC said a new study has shown that patients with depression who were prescribed GlaxoSmithKline's controlled-release antidepressant, Paxil CR, were less likely to discontinue therapy than patients receiving immediate-release selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
Paxil CR is a modified version of Glaxo's SSRI antidepressant and incorporates SkyePharma's Geomatrix oral controlled release delivery technology.

Paxil CR has been available in the US market since April 2002 and SkyePharma receives a royalty on Glaxo's sales.
In the three months to Sept 30 2003, sales of Paxil CR were 110 mln stg, representing 30 pct of the US Paxil franchise.

Yet again Skyepharma have disappointed the city. Again, key deals have failed to be signed and the share price has plummeted 13.5p on the back of the RNS. The year end figures are going to be below expectations due to not signing the contracts in time, though they still expect the contracts to be signed in the near future.

Full RNS:


RNS Number:8370T
Skyepharma PLC
05 January 2004


For Immediate Release 5 January, 2004


SKYEPHARMA PROVIDES END-2003 TRADING UPDATE


LONDON, UK, 5 January 2004-- SkyePharma PLC (Nasdaq: SKYE; LSE: SKP) announces a
Trading Update for the year ending 31 December 2003.


As a result of delays in concluding a number of key deals in 2003, revenues for
the year will be substantially below the #85-100 million range indicated at the
time of the Interim Results in September and below the #70 million achieved in
2002. Milestone payments remain a major source of our revenues, and this
shortfall primarily arises because several key deals that we had expected to
conclude in 2003 are still in negotiation, with finalisation now expected in
early 2004. With revenues below our budgeted revenue target, coupled with
greater than expected research and development costs (arising from delays to
completion of agreements involving the transfer of costs to the partner), the
Company now expects to report a loss for the second half of 2003 albeit less
than the loss we reported for the first half. A number of key deals, potentially
involving total milestone payments of up to $200 million and double digit
royalty income, remain in advanced stage negotiation with multiple potential
partners. We remain confident that these agreements can be concluded on
satisfactory or better terms in the current year. This would have a
correspondingly positive impact on the profit already budgeted for 2004 (which
assumed these agreements were signed in 2003).


The company expects to have cash balances of approximately #20 million at 31
December 2003, marginally lower than as at 30 June 2003, with debt levels
marginally higher than as at 30 June 2003. However cash should increase
substantially in 2004 as the above deals are concluded.


During the second half of 2003, the company signed several new product
collaboration deals. Announced today is a further technology licence deal in the
pulmonary area that was signed with GlaxoSmithKline at the end of 2003. However,
discussions to finalise the major deals that we had expected to be concluded by
31 December remain ongoing. A signed term sheet is in place for one transaction,
which we would anticipate closing within the next few weeks. In addition one of
our pipeline products, due to be filed for approval with the FDA in March, is
currently under advanced review by several potential licensees. Our largest
licensing opportunity is a package of products in the pulmonary field, for which
we are also in advanced discussions with a number of parties. A major clinical
study published in November suggests a substantial increase in the potential
commercial value of the bronchodilator formoterol, both alone and in combination
with an inhaled steroid. Our own combination with the steroid fluticasone is
making very satisfactory progress in clinical development, with a Phase I trial
now completed. We believe that these factors have significantly raised the value
of our inhaled product range and support our stance that the Company should
refrain from entering any collaboration that undervalues this part of our
product pipeline. The Company is so convinced of the potential value of this
particular product opportunity that we have already rejected terms including
milestones of up to $90 million and double digit royalty returns. We remain
confident that we will be able to finalise a deal with an appropriate partner in
the first quarter of 2004.


While every effort was made to bring these deals to completion on appropriate
terms by the 2003 year-end, the Company strongly believes that it is in
shareholders' best interests to conclude the best deal possible for these
critical products. Unfortunately the time required for due diligence and the
final stages of negotiations does not always accommodate the constraints imposed
by a year-end date. Indeed, this restriction has proved a significant impediment
to obtaining the deal terms we feel that our products warrant. We remain
confident that this is only a delay and expect to conclude these agreements in
early 2004.


OUTLOOK FOR 2004

Turning to the current year, we see the outlook as very positive for the
Company. Revenues and cash will be improved by the finalisation of the deals
referred to above that are currently under discussion, augmented by anticipated
milestone payments from deals agreed in prior years. As important, we expect a
further significant increase in our royalty income, which is becoming an
increasingly dominant factor in our revenues and, importantly, also in our
profits. We had already budgeted a profit for 2004 (assuming the agreements
still in negotiation were signed in 2003) and deferral of those agreements to
the current year would therefore have a correspondingly positive impact.


With the completion of the development phase of our growth, we are further
reorganising our R&D operations and some other business functions in order to
align the development base with our projected future R&D activities. Regrettably
this will mean some redundancies but we expect to emerge from this
reorganisation in a leaner and fitter form. This will involve a one-off cash
cost of approximately #3.5 million and some associated non-cash asset
write-offs. These will be taken as exceptional charges in both 2003 and 2004 as
appropriate. Thereafter shareholders should expect to see growth in operating
profits more closely aligned with the future growth in royalty income that we
expect, generated by products such as DepoMorphineTM.


Commenting on the Trading Update, Chief Executive Michael Ashton said: "We are
disappointed that we have not been able to meet the ambitious target we set
ourselves in April of revenue growth in excess of 40%. On the positive side,
royalty income should more than triple for the full year after increasing
fourfold in 2002, fulfilling our expectations. With our main royalty-earning
products Paxil(R) CR and Xatral(R) OD/UroXatral(R) likely to be joined in
2004 by Foradil(R) CertiHaler and DepoMorphineTM, we expect this gratifying
trend to continue in the current year. We cannot stress sufficiently that rising
income from royalties is the key to future sustainable profit growth for
SkyePharma. At our present stage of development, revenues and profitability are
still largely dependent on the level and timing of milestone payments, which by
their nature are very difficult to predict. While we are striving to become
consistently profitable, it would clearly not be in shareholders' best interests
to enter into new agreements with milestone payments that would produce current
profitability if those upfront payments did not reflect the value of our
investment or came at the expense of future royalty streams.


"With our increasing royalty share, the deals currently under negotiation and an
improved cost base, I am excited by the prospects for 2004.


"I can also report that the Company has been in discussion with our partner
GlaxoSmithKline over the royalty rate we receive on sales of Paxil(R)? CR. Legal
advice received by SkyePharma leads us to believe that we are entitled to a
substantial increase in the royalty rate from the date of entry of generic
paroxetine in the US market. If we are unable to reach agreement on this issue,
there is an arbitration procedure in place."


ends


A conference call on this Trading Update will be held today. Michael Ashton,
SkyePharma's Chief Executive Officer, will host the conference call. Investors
and other interested parties may access the conference call at 4:00 p.m. (GMT) /
11:00 a.m. (EST) by dialling +1 (612) 288 0337 for International callers and
(800) 230 1085 for US callers.


A replay will be available shortly after the conclusion of the conference call
by dialling +1 (320) 365 3844 for International callers and (800) 475 6701 in
the US and entering Access Code 716063.


The Company intends to publish its full-year results for 2003 at the end of
March.


SkyePharma PLC develops pharmaceutical products benefiting from world-leading
drug delivery technologies that provide easier-to-use and more effective drug
formulations. There are now nine approved products incorporating three of
SkyePharma's five technologies in the areas of oral, injectable, inhaled and
topical delivery, supported by advanced solubilisation capabilities. For more
information, visit www.skyepharma.com.


Except for the historical information herein, the matters discussed in this news
release include forward-looking statements that may involve a number of risks
and uncertainties. Actual results may vary significantly based upon a number of
factors, which are described in SkyePharma's 20-F and other documents on file
with the SEC. These include without limitation risks in obtaining and
maintaining regulatory approval for existing, new or expanded indications for
its products, other regulatory risks, risks relating to SkyePharma's ability to
manufacture pharmaceutical products on a large scale, risks that customer
inventory will be greater than previously thought, risks concerning SkyePharma's
ability to manage growth, market a pharmaceutical product on a large scale and
integrate and manage an internal sales and marketing organization and maintain
or expand sales and market share for its products, risks relating to the ability
to ensure regulatory compliance, risks related to the research, development and
regulatory approval of new pharmaceutical products, risks related to research
and development costs and capabilities, market acceptance of and continuing
demand for SkyePharma's products and the impact of increased competition, risks
associated with anticipated top and bottom line growth and the possibility that
upside potential will not be achieved, competitive products and pricing, and
risks associated with the ownership and use of intellectual property rights.
There can be no certainty that agreement in respect of the additional royalty
for Paxil(R)? CR claimed by the company will be reached with GlaxoSmithKline, or
that SkyePharma will succeed in the arbitration process or that an increased
royalty will be paid. SkyePharma undertakes no obligation to revise or update
any such forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the
date of this release.


For further information please contact:
SkyePharma PLC +44 207 491 1777
Michael Ashton, Chief Executive Officer
Peter Laing, Director of Corporate Communications +44 207 491 5124

Sandra Haughton, US Investor Relations +1 212 753 5780

Buchanan Communications +44 207 466 5000
Tim Anderson / Mark Court

I topped up with these today but sadly missed the best prices in the dip.

The news which followed the trading statement but not seen RNS or AFX should guarantee a move back towards 75p


GlaxoSmithKline Licenses SkyePharma Formulation Technology for Respiratory Drugs

LONDON, Jan. 5 -- SkyePharma PLC (Nasdaq: SKYE; LSE: SKP) today announced a licence agreement with GlaxoSmithKline (LSE/NYSE: GSK) to provide access to one of SkyePharma's proprietary formulation technologies for application to the delivery of respiratory drugs either by breath-actuated dry-powder inhaler or by metered-dose aerosol inhaler. The agreement was signed at the end of 2003 and GSK made an initial payment to SkyePharma on signature. If the patented formulation technology is subsequently incorporated into current or future products by GSK, SkyePharma will also be entitled to an additional payment for each such product and a royalty on eventual sales.

Michael Ashton, chief executive of SkyePharma, said: "Following hard on the heels of the recent FDA "approvable" letter for the Foradil(R) CertiHaler(TM) that we co-developed with Novartis and a subsequent second agreement with Novartis to jointly develop a dry-powder inhaler version of QAB149, a novel long-acting bronchodilator, this new agreement with the acknowledged leader in the respiratory field provides further endorsement of SkyePharma's technology leadership in the important and fast-growing pulmonary delivery market."


Fly by Night

Red

I'm with you, Red. Keep the faith eh? It was good to see you on sat.

Skp will come good...eventually....

anybody out there?. Bought into these last week at 69.

Yeah theres a few of us long suffering holders out here. Strap yourself in this one tends to be a rocky ride. If you have researched it well you will be aware of the following:

Ashton steps down as chief exec in March/April when the full yr results are announced (well received by the city).

SKP have a history of disappointing, making statements that they then don't keep - there was supposed to be three announcements prior to dec 31st - only one came hence the disappointing trading statement. The other two announcements need to include the licensing agreement for Depomorphine for Europe.

They still have a large reliance on milestone payments which tends to make both cashflow and profit very lumpy.

Paxil CR, the drug Glaxo produce via SKP delivery system is starting to suffer against the generic competition (sales down 40% in Q4 last year) which make future announcements even more needed than before.

There is a large seller in the market, a former director who is still selling off his shares, and he tends to sell on any peak. This and the fact that the company is seen as a jam tomorrow company and the share price needs a strong trading statement to see significant rises.

Fidelity have slowly been building up a stake recently and now hold 16% of the company

Personally I am a long term holder who believes these will finally take off when the Depomorphine announcement comes and the revenues start to smooth. The company has a lot of good products, a good pipeline and has been touted as a takeover target many times. This will come good, though it may still be a little while away (depending on the results end of march).

Let us know your views