AMS specialises in the development, manufacture and sale of advanced wound care, wound closure and sealant products. The company makes money through it's branded products LiquiBand, ActivHeal and Resorba, with around 80% of sales from Europe (mainly UK and Germany). The group more than doubled it's revenue in the past 3 years while margins have advanced from 17% in 2009 to 24% last year, significantly boosting their net income. The company has confirmed it's previous revenue guidance of 57.5 million and pre-tax profit of 13.2 million, up 9% and 30% respectively. They expect to pay down all their debt by the end of 2013. AMS stock is up 69% in 2013, but I'm still long as it offers great value given it's prospects.
Associated British Foods is a diversified international food, ingredients and retail group operating in 47 countries. It is the owner of several famous brand names including Twinings tea, Ovaltine, Primark and British Sugar. The company has achieved growth through the guidance of the the founding Weston family, which still holds a large interest. The stock is up 58% in 2013, pays a small dividend, and recently beat analyst estimates on both revenue and profit. It is mostly a food business, but their retail brand Primark grew revenues by 22% represents now 25% of the company and is expected to open 20 more European stores in 2014. I like to own market leaders and ABF is one of them.
Blinkx is simply the world’s most advanced video search engine. They link viewers with content publishers and distributors, and monetize those interactions through advertising. Their technology was developed by Cambridge University and is protected by 111 patents. The company has more than 900 partnerships, including the video search for AOL and Lycos. BLNX has grown revenues by more than 70% in the past few years, and stock was up more than 200% in 2013, being #14 on the list of best UK stocks of 2013. My strategy is to buy only the best stocks for a fair price, if you are looking for the same, Blinkx is still undervalued and has plenty of room to fly given it's patented technology and the millions of videos posted daily.
Hargreaves Lansdown PLC is a leader in investment management products and services to private investors in one of the largest financial centers in the world, United Kingdom . The Company's flagship service, Vantage, is UK's largest direct-to-private investor investment supermarket and commands a market share of 28%. Vantage offers clients the administrative convenience of being able to hold and manage their investments, including unit trusts, open ended investment company, equities, bonds, investment trusts and cash, irrespective of the tax vehicle, in one place with consolidated valuation reports. The company is growing by double digits, with profit margins and ROE above 50%, which are numbers usually seen at technology companies.
Management is superb and has done very well despite the bad financial environment in UK, growing revenues by more than 20% during the worst meltdown in 2008. The founders, Peter Hargreaves and Stephen Lansdown still hold a controlling interest in the business. HL. stock has advanced almost 100% in 2013, but bright days still lie ahead, the company is capturing market share from competitors rapidly and coming up with new products.
Is a pharmaceutical company with more than 35 years of history and an established position in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region (45% of sales) and US (46% of sales). Their products are marketed under divisions: Branded (40%), Injectables (38%) and Generics (22%). The injectables division ditributes more than 180 products, Branded has more than 600 products, which are mostly licensed from global pharmaceutical companies, which recognize Hikma's strong position in the MENA region. The company has steadily grown by 20% each year, has ROE of 16% and no debt. Their future growth will come from the generics business (Doxycycline grew from 10 million USD in December 2012 to over 100 million in June 2013), licensing of new products and acquisitions. Hikma stock ended year 2013 57% higher.
Chi-Med is the holding company of a pharmaceutical and healthcare group based primarily in China. Chi-Med is a subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. ("HWL"), one of the largest conglomerates based in Hong Kong. Chi-Med focuses on researching, developing, manufacturing and selling pharmaceuticals, and health oriented consumer products primarily in China. The company has a global licensing deal with AstraZeneca on Volitinib, and it's the first deal of this type to progress a China discovered targeted oncology drug towards the global market. The company earned a $20 million upfront, with additional $120 million after successful achievement of clinical development, and in the marketing phase a double-digit share of revenues and profits.
China represents 20% of the world's population, but only 1.5% of the total drug market. As such, Pharmaceutical companies are on the rise, and HCM is well positioned to profit from this trend, already gaining 48% in 2013. Recently, Chi-Med announced a joint venture with Sinopharm Group, the largest distributor of pharmaceutical and medical products in China. If you like small cap stocks with explosive potential, this one is for you.
RWS is a provider of intellectual property support services and high level technical, legal and financial translation services, for companies in the pharmaceutical, chemical, aerospace, automotive, defense and telecom sectors. It provides services to 12 of the world's top 20 applicants at the World Intellectual Property Office in 2011 and 14 of the top 20 applicants at the European Patent Office in 2011.
Main growth will come from the acquisition of inovia, a web based patent filing company. Their technology is protected by 12 patents (and 35 additional pending), and it achieved 37% revenue growth rate last year, boosting profit margins and future revenue for RWS. The thing I really like, is that the founder of RWS, Andrew Brode (holds 43% stake in the company), pays himself a salary of 269 000 GBP (including pensions), which shows he cares more about the future of his business than short term profit chasing. The stock is up 56% this year, I'm a buyer because I believe I'm getting growth at a reasonable price with this one.