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Penny Share Review 175

Monday 17 March 2003

News from the USA on Friday created some excitement about NMT (NMT.L). The Guardian from Saturday reported that Roche, the pharmaceutical giant, received approval for its Fuzeon HIV drug, a fusion inhibitor that blocks the protein that HIV needs to infect a cell, which is being developed as a self-administered treatment. NMT entered into an agreement with Roche to supply safety syringes that will be included in treatment packs to be supplied to patients. Roche and its partner Trimeris forecast that sales of the drug could be between $500m and $1bn. The shares were unchanged from Friday's close 1.15p at 10.11.

Protec (PRC) features briefly in Saturday's Independent market movers section. First-half losses of £400,000 and a warning that full-year results "will be significantly weaker than expected", saw the shares move down on Friday. At 10.11 the shares were unchanged from Friday's close of 6p.

The Independent on Sunday in its 'Punting in the City' article recommends Symphony Plastic Technologies (SYM) noting, "it's not often this column tips a tiny, loss-making company." The article outlines the catalogue of uses for the Company's degradable plastic products and also some of the deals that it has already signed up. Interestingly, it comments that Symphony is aiming for "other big polluters like mailing houses, which dish out large amounts of plastic" to complement its existing relationships with supermarkets and local authorities. It also highlighted the risks associated with investing in a loss-making company, how changes to environmental regulation could affect its prospects and also that the Company's very rapid growth means that management need to keep a tight rein "to keep everything under control". There may also be the possibility of raising capital, "even though it looks destined to go into profit." However, the article concludes, "the trend towards products that are better for the environment should prick the consciences of plastic buyers. The deals with the supermarkets should improve confidence. This is a highly speculative buy, so at 28.5p, take the plunge if you're brave enough." At 10.10 the shares were up a 0.5p to 29p from Friday's close.

Today's Announcements

The following companies, in which City Equities customers may have an interest, released announcements to the market this morning. These can be found by entering the relevant company name or ticker code in the search box on this site.

Host Europe (HER) - Final Results
Media@invest (MIN.L) - Acquisitions

Look Out For This Week

17 Mar - Host Europe (F).
18 Mar - UK RPI (Feb), US FOMC meeting.
19 Mar - NMT (F), UK Unemployment (Feb), Bank of England meeting minutes.
20 Mar - UK Retail Sales (Feb), Building Societies Association lending figures (Feb).
21 Mar - No data scheduled.

Compiled by A McLintock.

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