The company is in very good shape. I am looking for a close on or past 1.79.
Sydney - Wednesday - Feb 18: (RWE Australian Business News) - Biota Holdings Ltd (ASX:BTA) lifted net profit 31pc to $7.21m in the half-year ended December 31 from $5.52m a year earlier. Revenue rose 10.5pc to $33.56m from $30.37m. This included $3.8m of Relenza royalties ($16.5m in 2008 first half), $6.6m ($9.6m) of collaboration income from licensing agreements with AstraZeneca and Boehringer Ingelheim, $20m from the litigation settlement with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and grant income of $1.1m ($2.4m) from the US National Institutes of Health for the development of LANI. The result included a portion of the $US3.5m payment from AstraZeneca whilst the comparable period in the 2008 year included a significant milestone payment of $3.4m. Basic earnings per share were 4.1c, up from 3.0c. The company has yet to pay a dividend. CEO Mr Peter Cook said, "This half has demonstrated strong management of cash and with the resolution of the litigation with GSK, allows Biota to commit optimal resources into its clinical pipeline. "The order on GSK, announced in January, from the UK Department of Health for 10.6m courses of Relenza is encouraging."
BTA Price at posting:
$1.60 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held