Ascendis: It all depends on asset sales and restructuring
The key, in the short term, is for Ascendis to gain an ‘amend and extend’ agreement from the banks that hold the debt
Readers may remember that in November 2019 IM was critical of Ascendis. The ruling price then was 319c. In late 2019, the sale of the European business Remedica was called off; the share price plunged to 130c.Despite a positive AGM narrative in February, an upbeat trading statement and encouraging interim results in March, the share continued to slide.The first-half 2020 results were above market expectations. Overall group revenue rose 12% to R3.9bn and overall normalised earnings declined 9% to R179m, with normalised headline earnings falling by the same margin to 35.1c a share.The sell-off on the JSE in March saw Ascendis hit an all-time low of 29c.Sentiment turned rosier after a Covid-19 update in April detailed how Ascendis was well positioned to supply drugs, respirators and diagnostic equipment as well as consumer health and wellbeing products. The stock rallied.Ascendis also announced the sale, for €5m, of European division Scitec.Some market watchers believed that what was ...
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