IS Pharma prepares to buy
Pharmaceutical products supplier IS Pharma yesterday announced it will raise £12.5m to fund an acquisition drive.
The new fundraising comes after the firm raised £3.6m last month by placing new shares. Some of the cash raised will go towards covering contingent payments for past acquisitions. It will be added to its cash balance of £5.1m.
The firm also reported its revenue rose 10 per cent to £6.5m year-on-year for its first half.
Its profit jumped an impressive 21 per cent to £4.5m, with gross profit margins of 68 per cent, compared to 62 per cent last year.
Profit from operations was up 98 per cent to £1.8m with profit after tax up 192 per cent.
Tim Wright, chief executive of IS Pharma, said: “We are pleased to report another period of strong performance as we continue to deliver against our strategy of building a significant European speciality pharmaceutical company.
“The IS Pharma team has, once again, achieved further, sustainable, revenue and profit growth while at the same time continuing to grow our product portfolio.
“The announcement of a dividend in the period represents a significant step in the history of the company, recognising that we are now able to reward our shareholders investment while continuing to pursue our growth strategy. IS Pharma acquires and commercialises late-stage pharmaceuticals and medical devices.
STEPHEN NORCROSS
FINNCAP
STEPHEN Norcross was lead corporate broker on the placing.
Norcross joined FinnCap in 2006 from St Helen’s Capital, where he had been head of the Equity Products Group. At St Helen’s Capital he dealt with high net worth individuals and institutional investors interested in growing companies.
Before working in the City Norcross had a general sales background, having run his own direct sales force in a number of industries. He studied Physics at University.
He has been running a number of small cap fundraisings since 2006 totalling around £200m.
FinnCap, led by chief executive Sam Smith and chaired by private equity veteran Jon Moulton, is an independent institutional broker and corporate adviser to 73 clients. It specialises in advising and raising capital, providing research and after-market care for both growing and established smaller companies. It last month hired former fund manager Tom Hayward from Herald Investment Management, where he was responsible for £50m venture capital funds, as its new finance director.