Indies Pharma goes to market on Thursday to raise $248.4 million from 174 million shares for its own use while the current shareholders are offering 92.5 million units to raise nearly $139 million.
Only 60 million shares are set aside for the general public. The shares are mostly priced at $1.50 each with lower prices for shares reserved for selected groups. The proceed is expected to be used to pay off loans to its parent company and bank loans, working capital and funds the cost of the issue. The total issued shares currently amount to 1,158,553,500 units and the issue of 173,983,149 shares, if successful will raise the total issued shares to 1,332,536,649 units.
Indies Pharma is a pharmaceutical distribution company out of Montego Bay, which sold its first pharmaceutical 2005, and today distributes over 150 prescription and over the counter pharmaceutical formulations for Bioprist Holdings under the ‘Bioprist’ brand and operates the Trident Pharmacy located nearby in Sam Sharpe Square, Montego Bay. The Company currently services customers across all 14 parishes of the island, including over 400 pharmacies, private and public hospitals and government agencies including the National Health Fund as well as medical practitioners, and directly to individual end users.
Based on how investors have gone about pricing IPOs at their peak, it seems likely that Indies Pharma will peak around $2.45 based on IC Insider.com’ projected earnings in 2018, of 17 cents per share. It could even go higher if the number of applicants for shares exceed those Junior Market IPOs from those going back to 2017.
The stock sits in the mid-range of IC Insider.com’s ranking of Junior Market stocks with a PE of 9, just a bit less than the average of 11 for the market but most IPOs have traded around 15 times the current year’s earnings at the peak reached within 2 weeks or so.
Indies is not the cleanest entity to come public in recent years. The prospectus shows that there are clear areas of management weakness that need sorting out, but they are not alone, Elite Diagnostics exhibited some similar traits in spite of having men with business experience as board members. The promoters and directors should never have allowed the prospectus to be put out with scanned copy of the audited accounts from the book issued by the auditors. It does not telegraph a good message about management.
The financials are strong but here again it reflects concerns. The statement of Financial position show amount dues from directors standing at $166 million per the half year report. Under the tax laws of Jamaica such amounts may be taxable if not repaid within a certain time frame as the amount would be treated as a distribution. Its is unclear if this issue is addressed in the prospectus.
The company has some strong positives. At the end of October 2017 borrowed funds exceeded shareholders’ equity this has changed by April this year with equity of $374 million well ahead of debt of $194 million. For one Gross profit which has been running between 75 percent to 62 percent between over the past five years with the half year to March coming out at very strong 62 percent, revenues grew an average of 15 percent for the past 4 years but only 6 percent in 2017 but is up by 10 percent for the half year to April. The company has been able to keep cost well under control and this has enable a richness in profitability with pretax profit rising 56 percent in 2017 89 percent in 2016 and 154 percent in 2015 after a 25 percent increase in 2014. The profit for 2016 would have been even better if there was not a loss on sale of fixed asset in the 2017 period amounting to $32 million but the rise in 2017 would likewise be less.
For the half to April this year revenues rose 10 percent to $301 million over the similar period in 2017 but profit is only up 6 percent to $73 million from $69 million before tax. IC Insider.com forecast is for a 16 percent increase in pretax profit to $200 million for the current year. The company could pick up additional sales as a result of the publicity that emanates from the listing.
going forward the slow seen in revenues in 2017 to date has to be watched as that could suggest maturing of the company but they have a long pipe line of applications in to add products to the existing lines.