Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
Regarding the sale of treasury shares earlier in the month in order to satisfy market demand, I cannot see much evidence of the market demand in the Trades over the last few weeks. If there is pent up institutional demand they are clearly not interested in an ask price higher than £1.10. I would not be surprised if we were to retrace further before serious interest is generated. Also, are there enough shares in the issue to go round? Should we expect some dilution?
Anpario truly has a champion presently in the form of John Lee, (Lord Lee of Trafford, former MP and currently Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party Committee on Internaitonal Affairs, Ministry of Defence) His column in this weekend's FT is almost entirely devoted to Anpario. He highlights Anpario's particularly strong trading performance in countries such as Argentina, Bangladesh, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, and Turkey. He also points out that Anpario's recent acquisition, Meridian, supplies 16 of the top 20 feed mills there. "Fundamental drivers should benefit Anpario; a growing world population, plus legislation working in favour of natural additives and away from antibiotic growth promoters." He also notes the many small companies successful in niche additives which could provide acquisition opportunities, as well as reminding us that Anpario itself could become a takeover targetfor a hungry global player. He has recently added to his shareholding. When he last bought in January the SP was only 82p and is now trading around the £1 mark. I am rather rueing taking some profit in recent weeks, as I anticipate that the price could well rise further in the weeks leading up to the announcement of the interim results on September 19th.
Anpario (formerly Kiotech) is a new-wave biotechnology company but with old-fashioned fundamentals that always appeal: profit growth, positive cash balance, decent dividend yield, low p/e . . . plus optimism. It supplies “natural high-performance feed additives to enhance growth, health and sustainability in agriculture and aquaculture”, selling into 61 countries. When I recently spoke to David Bullen, Anpario’s chief executive, he was in Bangladesh meeting distributors, having only just returned from China – an important and developing market. Anpario has grown by acquisition, as well. In March, it used existing cash resources to buy Meriden Animal Health, which derives 40 per cent of revenues from Asia – this should be immediately earnings enhancing. With increasing world food demand, plus regulatory moves to ban antibiotic growth promoters, Anpario could be a long-term winner. Its current market capitalisation is just £17.5m – but, here, the trick is to grow conservatively and not over-reach. So the presence of the experienced guiding hand of chairman Richard Rose – also chairman of Bookers – is reassuring.
Info is tagged on to the end of the last trading statement. ANPARIO PLC - TRADING STATEMENT 1 February 2012 Anpario plc Performance Update 2011 Anpario plc ("the Company"), a leading supplier of natural high performance feed additives to enhance health, growth and sustainability in global agriculture and aquaculture markets, is providing a performance update prior to entering its close period. The Company expects to report a successful year to 31 December 2011. This is especially encouraging as the on-going turbulence in both the Middle Eastern and Southern European markets disrupted normal order patterns in the respective countries. In partnership with our country distributors, the Company has also implemented a strategy to minimise any exposure in countries where there is financial or political concern, whilst capitalising on the Company’s geographic diversity to broaden sales opportunities. The Company has continued to re-structure the UK agriculture division by divesting its commodity business to focus on the added value products within its portfolio. As a result, whilst this has substantially reduced overall UK sales in 2011, gross margins and overall profitability have been improved. The balance sheet remains strong and debt free with cash balances in excess of £4.3m at the year end. With global issues continuing to prevail, the Company remains confident but cautious as it goes into 2012 and the year has had an encouraging start. The announcement of the results for the year to 31 December 2011 will be made in April 2012.
Morningstar.co.uk - Regulatory News Announcement TIDMANP Anpario plc ( "the Company") TR-1: NOTIFICATION OF MAJOR INTEREST IN SHARESi 1. Identity of the issuer or the underlying issuer Anpario PLC of existing shares to which voting rights are attached:ii 2 Reason for the notification(please tick the appropriate box or boxes): An acquisition or disposal of voting rights An acquisition or disposal of qualifying financial instruments which may result in the acquisition of shares already issued to which voting rights are attached An acquisition or disposal of instruments with similar economic effect to qualifying financial instruments An event changing the breakdown of voting rights Other (please specify): Change of Investment Manager X 3. Full name of person(s) subject to the Downing LLP notification obligation:iii 4. Full name of shareholder(s) Downing Income VCT 4 Plc (if different from 3.):iv Downing Income VCT Plc 5. Date of the transaction and date on which the threshold is crossed or reached:v 6. Date on which issuer notified: 07/03/2012 7. Threshold(s) that is/are crossed or reached:vi, vii 8. Notified details: A: Voting rights attached to sharesviii, ix Class/type of Situation previous Resulting situation after the triggering transaction shares to the triggering if possible usingthe ISIN CODE transaction Number Number Number Number of voting % of voting rightsx of of of shares rights Shares Voting Rights Direct Directxi Indirectxii Direct Indirect 724,636 724,636 724,636 724,636 Ordinary B: Qualifying Financial Instruments Resulting situation after the triggering transaction Type of financial Expiration Exercise/ Number of voting % of voting instrument datexiii Conversion Periodxiv rights that may be rights ac