Asthma drugs firm falls 13pc after loss of £41m
Investors in Vectura were left gasping for breath yesterday after the inhaler maker reported crippling losses in the first half of the year.
the Ftse 250 firm saw around £95m wiped off its value after revealing a loss of £41.3m in the six months ended June 30, 71.1pc higher than the £24.1m loss it suffered in the same period last year.
vectura put it down to high costs resulting from its £441m purchase of rival skyepharma last year.
Investors were also put off by its failure to provide an update on the progress of its generic copy of GlaxosmithKline’s best- selling Advair inhaler, which it is developing with Hikma Pharmaceuticals.
Both vectura and Hikma’s shares took a beating in May when the inhaler was blocked by the Us Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In its results last month, Hikma said it had held ‘constructive discussions’ with the Us health regulator, in which it identified ‘no material issues’ with the inhaler’s production. But yesterday, vectura warned that there is a chance that the FDA’s issues will not be resolved at all.
the ambiguity led brokers Peel Hunt and n+1 singer to slap vectura with a ‘ hold’ rating and shares fell 12.9pc, or 14.1p, to 95p.
simmering geopolitical tensions between the Us and north Korea led to another cautious day for markets, with the FTSE 100 falling 0.3pc, or 18.79, to 7354.13.
Laundry firm Berendsen edged down 0.6pc, or 8p, to 1288p after French hedge fund syquant Capital increased its stake.
syquant now owns 3.5pc of Berendsen’s voting rights through complicated ‘contracts for difference’. these instruments allow the fund to bet on Berendsen’s share price rising or falling – a process called shorting.
the move comes several months after Berendsen, which has seen shares rise 48.1pc this year, accepted a £2.2bn takeover bid from French rival elis in April.
Investors switched on to broadcaster ITV after an article in marketing publication Campaign suggested UK tv advertising revenues are improving after a long period in the red, and shares rose 2.1pc , or 3.2p, to 159.4p.
embattled gold miner Acacia said it has spent around £2.5m buying a form of insurance called a ‘put option’, which prevents the value of its gold stockpiles from falling below $1,300 per ounce.
the firm said it took out the insurance measures to mitigate cash flows following the news earlier this week that it will scale down its operations in tanzania.
the country’s authorities have accused Acacia of lying about the value of its gold concentrate and have banned the export of gold and copper, knocking Acacia’s production by 35pc, costing it £162m this year. Yesterday, shares fell 0.3pc, or 0.5p, to 188.3p. Cyber security firm Sophos
Group fell 2.3pc, or 12.5p, to 521.5p despite upgrading its full-year profit expectations. the Ftse 250 favourite, whose Intercept X programme protects businesses against cyber threats, has risen by around 54.2pc since the WannaCry ransomware attack in May.
As a result of strong demand, the firm expects full-year revenue growth of around 20pc, compared to previous guidance of mid-to high-teens growth. Private jet business Gama Aviation saw its year- on-year Us air revenues increase by 74pc in the first half of the 2017 to £146.2m, driven by its merger of the arm with BBA Aviation’s Us business in January. shares rose 2.2pc, or 5.5p, to 253p, and are now up 86pc so far this year.
oil services firm Petrofac rose 8.6pc, or 35.2p, to 446.3p after being awarded a contract worth more than £536m to develop an oil processing facility in russia.