re: OXIG.L (Oxford Instruments) - traded in London
Hi - in the past I had a sizeable position in IMG (then IMGC) which I later sold with a very sweet gain. Now I'm holding strong the only other competitor to IMGC in the area of LTS MRI magnets: Oxford Instruments.
Recently OXIG.L (Oxford Instruments) surged versus its industry index. Stock is up to 230p from its low of 150p and the level of 190p where I bought it.
Valuation wise, OXIG.L is a real gem. Marketcap around 90m Pound sterling. Price / Sales ratio is 0.40 - a multiple for an average retailer but not a hi-tech powerhouse. OXIG is trading around book value and even paying a dividend, yielding in excess of 3% annually.
uk.finance.yahoo.com
Behind it is a sounding turnaround story and some breakthru newspaper article on a succesful monstrous superconducting magnet testing and design. A little more distant into the future but more important IMHO is the fact that they do own 50% of a JV (the other partner is SIEMENS) which commands 75% of the world's output in superconducting magnets for MRI systems. The other 25% of the world's market is "owned" by IMGC (Intermagnetics General). Now OXIG is about to sell the remainder of its stake to Siemens somewhere down the road. And IMGC serves as a nice valuation gauge. Could be a real windfall for OXIG coming up.
What is more they (OXIG, not the JV if I'm correctly informed) recently completed a new sc MRI design which runs on a temperature of 20K instead of 2K. At this point cryopumps can be used instead of Liquid Helium. Acc. to my sources this is about to increase market breadth of MRIs in a big way (might double or triple penetration) and move the deployment strictly from clinics and central hospitals down to individual specialist' presences. Finally the new design is about to shrink the size of a typical MRI installationby a factor of 3. It is expected to hit the market in 12-18 months..
all the best
CROSSY
Here's the story: uk.biz.yahoo.com
Oxford Instruments shares raised by magnet
LONDON, Jan 8 - Britain's Oxford Instruments Plc (LSE: OXIG.L - news) said on Tuesday it had completed the production and testing of the world's largest high-performance commercial magnet for use in drug discovery, helping its shares to a 22 month high.
The shares, which have outperformed the UK's electronics sector by 80 percent over the past 12 months, climbed as much as six percent to 230 pence -- their highest since March 2000. At 1015 GMT they were five percent, or 11 1/2p, higher at 229p, valuing the firm at 103 million pounds ($148 million).
"They (the shares) were already looking good yesterday. This magnet story's given them an extra lift," said one market maker.
The $7 million magnet, ordered by the U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in 1993, uses a technique similar to bodyscanners, allowing researchers to map the structure of large biological molecules involved in disease development and the creation of new drugs.
"There remains a significant amount of work to complete the installation of the magnet at the customer's site in the United States over the next few months," Oxford Instruments said.
The firm, which also makes devices to keep temperatures low and machines to make precise neurological measurements, has made substantial provisions in recent years to cover the costs of completing the magnet.
"Today's announcement represents a major step in reducing the ongoing technical risk in our superconductivity business," Chief Executive Andrew Mackintosh said in a statement. |
