VIPsight - April 2014

COMPANIES

Manz replaces ADVA in Tec DAX

In the course of the periodic analysis of Deutsche Börse indices, the composition of the DAX listing remained unchanged as expected. On March 5, however, Deutsche Börse announced changes in TecDAX and SDax. From March 24 , Manx, the high-tech machine tool manufacturer, was re-admitted to TecDax but its shares were withdrawn from ADVA Optical Networking.  In SDax, the shares of SURTECO the Bavarian manufacturer of surface coating materials was grouped within Capital Stage. On the other hand, the shares of H&R (chemicals) and VTG (logistics) were ousted. The next review of Deutsche Börse share indices is scheduled for June 4; Celesio will probably stay in MDax until the volume freely traded dips below the baseline of 10 percent. At the beginning of February, Mc Kesson had gathered just under 78 percent of the shares of the pharmaceutical wholesaler, giving the new latest date of April 2 for the offer of the remaining shares of Celesio.

Schaltbau: a bumper year for transport engineering

SDAX-listed Schaltbau AG, supplier to the transport industry and engineering, posted record figures for 2013; turnover grew from 372 to  approximately 391 million Euros and EBIT  rose by 36 million, 22 per cent up on 2012. Consequently the Schaltbau share dividend has risen from 3.09 to 3.48 Euros. The board of directors is expected to advise the Supervisory Board to raise the per share dividend from 0.19 to 0.96 Euros. According to management, the main boost to the disproportionately high results was generated by the  Mobile Transport Engineering sector but company restructuring measures and competitive raw material prices also contributed. Certain planning delays on the part of customers in the infrastructure engineering were compensated by increased sales of braking systems.

In a communiqué, the group points out that it has increased the quota of its equity capital to approximately 33% from about 18 to just about 89 million Euros. The group has free credit lines of more than 75 million Euros available and some 14 million in ready cash for investing in continuity of growth. Schaltbau presently employs over 2000 staff.

Capital Stage: sunny forecast

Despite market hardships, solar-park and wind-farm administrator Capital Stage AG remains upbeat. This SDAX new-entry is setting its sights on an increase in turnover of some 40 percent to over 80 million Euros for 2014. The company ‘s invoiced earnings for 2013 are presently stated as 57 million Euros.  Management is also expecting to raise the EBIT from the previous year’s 32 million to over 40 million Euros.

At the end of February, Capital Stage had raised some 17 million Euros by an increase in capital to expand its solar parks and achieve  a capacity of some 40 Megawatt. According to the company, the successive purchase of four solar parks in Aquitaine in South-West France cost 140 million Euros including the absorption of the existing third-party funding. Capital Stage rates this as the biggest investment ever in the company’s history.

At this point in time, Capital Stage has a 281 Megawatt Peak capacity from sun-parks and wind-farms in Germany, France and Italy. The company’s business is the administration and technical management of sun-parks. Furthermore, Capital Stage acquires rights to plan large-scale sun-parks that its own construction division can build. It also owns quotas of in a number of companies in the field of renewable energy.

Paion: a step closer to authorization

Biopharmaceutical concern Paion AG has published good news regarding Reminazolam  (for short-term narcosis) and has published its year-end accounts for 2013.

Reminazolam that will probably be used in competition to Propofol, has the advantage that in all likelihood its use will not demand the presence of an anaesthesiologist. Paion, a General Standard-listed concern on the Frankfurt bourse, has concluded phase 2 of studies on the active ingredient, and the results are expected over the next few weeks. Paion is now focusing on phase 3 tests to obtain the authorization required by Europe and the United States.

The company points out that there is great interest in the United States for products that fall within the category of “short-term anaesthesia”; today, active ingredients and anaesthesiologists whose presence must be assured cost millions.  Remimazolam is expected to be safer because in the event of an overdose an antidote can be administered, a remedy denied by Propofol for example.

The financial numbers declared by Paion AG, however, are less brilliant. Turnover in 2013 fell to around 4 million Euros, some 23 million Euros less than 2012 and the main reason for this was the sell-off of the Desmoteplase project to the Lundbeck group for approximately 20 million Euros. Paion’s turnover is mainly generated by licence agreements for Remimazolam in markets such as, for example, South Korea, Russia and Turkey. However, 13 million Euros in ready cash, and revenues of approximately 11 million Euros deriving from the recent increase in capital assure the company’s funding up till 2016. Now, Paion is aiming to regain a Prime Standard listing to enhance the share image in the eyes of foreign investors.