Indivior stock is highly addictive
ALCOHOL and cocaine addiction is apparently still unfortunately rife in the City and yesterday a company which specialises in addiction- control products stood out. Indivior, which was spun out of Reckitt Benckiser in December 2014 after the Dettol-to-Vanish household goods giant failed to find a buyer for its pharmaceuticals arm, jumped 23.3p or 16pc to 171p. It followed positive 2015 results and included a final dividend of 12.7 cents. The board’s accompanying warning that it does not expect to pay a dividend for the foreseeable future appeared to fall on deaf ears.
Indivior, whose name comes from the words ‘individual’ and ‘endeavour’ to reflect the challenges addiction patients face, has the largest pipeline of addiction drugs in the world. Fullyear revenues were in line with predictions and net income exceeded expectations. Broker Jefferies is a buyer and has a target price of 280p.
Indivior is currently awaiting a ruling the second quarter of 2016 from its lawsuits against Actavis and Par over patents for Indivior’s main product, Suboxone Film for heroin addiction. Suboxone has held up impressively in the face of generic competition, with its market share remaining resilient at an average of 59pc over the year.
Allied Minds, the group which commercialises intellectual property from universities and in which Neil Woodford’s fund holds a 28pc stake, jumped 26.5p to 315.1p on talk of a pending broker upgrade.
Elsewhere in the FTSE 250, Tullow Oil fell 21.6p to 169.8p after the oil and gas company said it had identified a potential issue with the turret bearing on the vessel serving its Jubilee field offshore Ghana. An external turret is attached to the end of the vessel and anchored to the seabed. Broker Barclays maintains its overweight stance and price target of 280p and is confident that production will continue as normal. Disappointing inflation numbers from China did the London market no favours whatsoever and sparked profit-taking in leading stocks which had enjoyed a rare bullish day on Wednesday. The Footsie lost 58.37 points to 5971.95, while the FTSE 250 showed resilience and firmed 20.42 points more to 16,176.75.
Wall Street fell 40.4 points at 16,413.43, not helped by a 4pc fall in Wal-Mart Stores after the retailing giant wheeled out its biggest fall in Q4 sales to date.
South East housebuilder Berkeley Group touched 3425p before closing 71p higher at 3367p on further consideration of the stock being added to MSCI’s indices. Deutsche Bank last month lifted its target price to 4161p from 3346p. A Deutsche buy recommendation ahead of interims on February 24 helped Barratt Developments put on 11.5p to 583.5p. The broker believes there is scope for positive surprises on the pre-tax profit front.
Despite heavy director share buying in recent days, Shire relinquished 89p to 3853p.
News of the earnings- enhancing bolt- on £3.5m acquisition of CoolLED Ltd, an instrument maker based in Andover, David Circurel’s Judges Scientific rose 22.5p to 1525p. WH Ireland raised its pre-tax profit and earnings per share estimates by 5pc to £9.3m and 113.4p respectively. The broker believes Judges remains a highly profitable company with strong cash generation and a proven ability to do deals at the right price. Its price target is 1600p.
Buyers chased Amerisur Resources 2.75p or 11pc higher to 27p after the company received final approval required to complete its interconnector with Ecuador. Broker Investec says that once operational, the pipeline has the potential to lower operational expenses, diversify export routing, facilitate tariffing opportunities and allow Amerisur to target near-term exploration upside.
Jarvis Securities put on 7.5p to 335p following slightly better-than-expected 2015 results. Cash under administration remains at very healthy levels. Serial underperformer Providence Resources rallied 3.75p to 15p after the company gave a detailed asset portfolio update on its Celtic Sea portfolio, offshore Ireland, to the market. Surprise, surprise, it said that Barryroe has yet to be farmed out but discussions are continuing. ‘ When Lord Nelson gets his eye back,’ said one disbelieving fund manager. This is a stock that was changing hands north of 500p not that long ago.
Victoria Oil & Gas gushed 10pc to 40.88p after securing Glencore’s interest in the Matanda block in Cameroon. It materially increases its reserves base in the country, in a block adjacent to its current producing area of Logbaba.
Educational services software provider Tribal Group recovered 2.25p more to 32p. Buyers have returned following the appointment of Ian Bowles as chief executive. The software industry’s veteran has a long track record and was just what the doctor ordered following October’s shocking profits warning.