Shares in Premier Veterinary Group (LSE: PVG) have slumped by around 12% today after the preventative healthcare specialist reported a near-doubling of its losses for the first half of the current financial year. In fact, losses after tax rose from £0.57m in the first six months of last year to £1.1m in the corresponding period of this year despite revenue increasing by around 31%.
Encouragingly, Premier Veterinary Group continues to rapidly grow the number of pets on its proprietary Pet Care Plan, with it investing heavily in the global expansion of the business. This will be aided by the disposal of the company’s veterinary clinics for £6.5m in December, with Premier Veterinary Group now being debt free and able to focus on core activities such as its Pet Care Plan and its veterinary pharmaceutical buying group businesses.
Clearly, today’s wider loss is disappointing for the company’s investors and this is reflected in the share price fall. However, with a clear strategy and a sound financial outlook, Premier Veterinary Group could be of further interest to risk-averse investors, but it may be prudent to await profitability before piling-in.
Price fall
Also falling heavily today are shares in Caza Oil & Gas (LSE: CAZA). They’re down by 15% despite there being no significant news released today by the company. Of course, Caza’s shares will be cancelled tomorrow (10 May) from trading on AIM after the company announced a share consolidation and cancellation on 3 May. This means that from 07:00 tomorrow, Caza will essentially become a private company after deciding to undergo a consolidation of 560,000,000 shares into one post-consolidation share, with Caza paying $0.00481 for each pre-consolidation share.
Clearly, the company has struggled to offer reason for cheer in the last year, with its shares falling by 95% during the period. And following its equity financing and debt restructuring, it believes that with common shareholders representing a tiny fraction of the total share capital of the business, it’s no longer appropriate for it to continue trading on AIM.
Up, up and away
Meanwhile, shares in Iofina (LSE: IOF) have soared by as much as 27% today after it released an encouraging set of results for the 2015 financial year. Iofina’s loss was reduced to $3.31m from $6.71m in the prior year as it was able to implement a number of cost reductions in the face of lower iodine prices. Furthermore, Iofina delivered record production at its IOsorb plants, with 569 metric tonnes of crystalline iodine being produced, which is a rise of 73% versus the previous year.
Looking ahead, further weakness in iodine prices could put more pressure on Iofina’s financial performance. However, with the business making progress with cost cuts as well as expanding its production capabilities, it may be of interest to less risk-averse investors. That’s especially the case since Iofina is forecast to move into profitability next year, which could boost investor sentiment yet further.
