POLYPEPTIDE: Discrepancy of opinion par excellence!

The FuW headline: "Polypeptide disappoints again"... which is not true! Nevertheless, they also see an opportunity to buy (too). ZKB is neutral and RBC Capital sees more than a doubling to CHF 45. We are also bullish for the share, even if we seem to have entered a little too early at CHF 21 due to the "darned" timing; we would have liked to have doubled up last week during the crazy sell-off! What was the reason for the "utopian" setback: quite simply, the fear of a capital increase! Although such an increase is not completely off the table at pharmaceutical supplier POLYPEPTIDE, CFO Marc Augustin put the matter into perspective: the high financial requirements for the various expansion projects are undisputed and the management would like to propose the introduction of a capital band and the creation of conditional share capital at the next AGM. Augustin nevertheless made clear reference to the four-stage financing strategy: First and foremost is the company's own cash flow. This is followed in second place by support from own customers (pre-financing; 2024 with a contribution of EUR 110 million). In third place comes a possible expansion of the credit facilities and an extension of the credit line with the main shareholder (Frederik Paulsen; 56.1%). Only at the fourth stage would a drawdown of equity instruments come into play. .. "and this is not really an issue at the moment", added CEO José Gonzales. Probably not least with the opinion that the company would soon have to experience a significantly higher valuation!

POLYPEPTIDE made significant progress in operational terms, even though the bottom line still showed a small loss of EUR 19.6 million... which was forecast by the Group. Cash flow improved significantly to EUR 89.4 million. If nothing goes wrong, the share will still have a lot to offer! Should the share fall back into the CHF 16 range, we will buy it! Target price: CHF 29.50!