ALQ - ALS Limited

[Dona Ferentes]

ALS has agreed with Nuvisan Pharma Holding GmbH to acquire the remaining 51% interest in Nuvisan (which includes Nuvisan GmbH and Innovation Campus Berlin) at nil cost.
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pushing close to that 3 yr peak

and pushing down 5 per cent. ... getting the rest for $0 implies impairment, or revisiting.

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the Announcement was characterised as bad news and not-so-bad news

ALS revealed that its forecast guidance for the year to March 31 (next Sunday) looks like coming up short with full year earnings to be at the lower end of the guidance range of $310 to $325 million when they are released in late May.

Even though that will be better than the $291 million reported for 2022-23, ALS said "Divisionally, Minerals margins have been maintained despite subdued trading through December 2023 and January 2024. Life Sciences has traded as expected. Corporate and interest costs are to be slightly higher” – hence the weaker than forecast outcome.

But that was the good news, if you like. The bad news was the unmitigated disaster the 2021 move into pharmaceuticals in Europe has been that has left a huge stain of red ink across the 2023-24 report and accounts.

The disaster saw ALS impair most of its huge investment Nuvisan, a European contract drug discovery and development group. The poor performance of the company and the strains on the investment has seen the company muttering for months now about having to fix or forget what has been a disaster.

ALS said on Monday that it is taking a massive hit to its $258 million stake Nuvisan only three years after buying 49% of the European group.

ALS said the write down of the “majority” of the stake’s carrying value has been caused by a series of problems at Nuvisan since ALS bought in August 2021 for 150 million euros (now around $258 million).

As part of the 2021 deal, ALS had a call option over the 51% which it has now exercised at "nil cost” .

 

[Dona Ferentes]

Y24 highlights
• Underlying Revenue of $2,586 million, an increase of 6.8% supported by most businesses, acquisitions, and FX tailwinds.
• Statutory net profit after tax (NPAT) of $12.9 million, a decrease of $278.3 million, impacted predominantly by the impairment of the initial 49% of Nuvisan and restructuring provisions ($248.8 million), and other increased one-off items.
• Underlying EBIT of $491.8 million, a slight increase of 0.2%. The operating margin was 19.0%, in line with the Group floor target, representing a decline of 125 bps compared to prior year. Margin contraction was partially offset by strong performances within Environmental, Food and Industrial Materials, whilst Minerals provided a resilient result.
• Underlying NPAT of $316.5 million, a slight decrease of 1.3%, impacted by mixed market conditions.
• Executed eight acquisitions, expecting to contribute an additional ~$152 million revenue on a full year run-rate basis.
• Strong balance sheet, supporting growth agenda in-line with value creation framework, with 2.0x leverage ratio and available liquidity of over $530 million.
• Final dividend of 19.6 cps (partially franked to 20%), representing a payment of $94.9 million to shareholders.

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likely to push to $14 today? and well recovered from Covid days

5 yr chart:

 

[DrBourse]

22/5/24 - ALQ Analysis for anyone thats interested..... More In Depth Detail is available if anyone needs to see it....

This Info may save some Newbies from parting with their "Hard Earned"....
Cheers...
DrB.

 

[Rabbithop]

Dr B. I think it was divs talking about ALS not moi.
I don't hold this stock.

 

[divs4ever]

i grabbed some after Campbell Brothers divested them ( 2012 )

has been a roller-coaster ride to get to here

sure i am up on them now but 2012 to 2015 was a long down-trend

 

[Dona Ferentes]

and down about 10 per cent today, and around $13.60. Was nudging $16 a month ago.

Trading update ahead of the half year ending 30 September 2024 (H1 FY25). ​

Commodities
• The business has recently encountered volume headwinds within the Minerals division.
• As communicated at the AGM, volumes in geochemistry and metallurgy remain patchy and fluctuations have become even more pronounced in July and August.
• This is especially the case in the Australian and Latin American markets and has resulted in volume declines and margin pressure in these markets.
• North American volumes have been more stable and are holding in line with pcp (H1 FY24).
• While Minerals margins are down on pcp, margins remain resilient at ~30%.

Life Sciences
• On a more positive note, organic growth in Life Sciences (especially Environmental) has been in line with expectations.
• The integration of the recent acquisitions of Nuvisan, Wessling and York are on track.
• Nuvisan is starting to see some positive medium and long-term improvement in the business development pipeline.
• As previously communicated, these acquisitions will be EPS dilutive in FY25 after taking into account initial trading and all relevant interest costs.

Corporate and interest costs
• Corporate costs are broadly in line with guidance while interest expense is tracking slightly above due to higher average debt levels and lease interest costs from recent acquisitions.

Outlook
• The combined impact of the above for the September half is while underlying EBIT is expected to be slightly ahead of pcp, underlying NPAT is expected to be down by ~5%.

 

[Dona Ferentes]

heading in the right direction. $14.66
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H1 FY25 highlights
• Underlying revenue of $1,464.2 million, an increase of 14.0% led by strong organic and scope growth within Life Sciences, contrasting softer growth conditions within Commodities.
• Underlying EBIT of $250.4 million, an increase of 2.1%. The operating margin declined to 17.1%, reflecting expected dilution from recent Life Sciences acquisitions and lower volumes in Minerals.
• Underlying net profit after tax of $152.3 million, declining 3.9%, impacted by the fluctuating exploration environment impacting Commodities, unfavourable FX impacts, and higher interest costs linked to recent acquisitions.
• Statutory NPAT of $126.8 million, declining 5.0%, reflecting integration and restructuring costs from recent acquisitions and the Nuvisan transformation.
• Minerals maintained resilient margin performance above 31%, with capacity in place to service any increase in volumes associated with future increased demand linked to global exploration activity.
• Integration of recent acquisitions on track, with Nuvisan slightly ahead in its transformation plan and showing good sales pipeline momentum.
• Strong balance sheet supporting growth agenda in line with value creation framework. Available liquidity of $375 million and EBITDA cash conversion of 91%
. Elevated leverage ratio following recent acquisitions with ongoing focus on improving working capital metrics and free cash flow generation to reduce net debt.
• Interim dividend of 18.9 cps (partially franked to 30%), representing a payment of $91.6 million to shareholders.

 

[Dona Ferentes]

heading in the right direction. $14.66

and pushing to a new High

• Interim dividend of 18.9 cps (partially franked to 30%), representing a payment of $91.6 million to shareholders.

goes ex- on 27 Nov