Corporate: Factor Therapeutics still looking for its next opportunity

Nearly 11 months on from its failed clinical trial and subsequent 97 per cent share price crash; Factor Therapeutics (ASX: FTT) has $3.1 million cash and a pipeline of opportunities but is yet to decide on one.

Factor chairman Cherrell Hirst wrote to shareholders this morning confirming the company was not dead. It was looking for a life sciences opportunity in the clinical stage but had not found the right business.

“We continue to consider a large number of opportunities, including those who have been brought to our attention from outside sources, with that goal in mind,” she said.

“We have progressed a small number of opportunities through deep due diligence but have declined to proceed to a transaction,” Hirst added, citing “matters such as agreed relative valuations and/or limitations with the technology itself”.

She recognised shareholder frustration but argued due diligence was vital. “We therefore continue to work for an outcome which we believe will meet shareholder approval and provide opportunity to restore value to the company”.

The company also provided its quarterly, four weeks before the due date revealing it had spent $225,000 in operating activities but had $3.1 million in cash, much of which was a $2.5 million R&D grant received from the government. It also undertook a $417,000 capital raising in February.

Factor shares have remained in the cellar since that horrific Wednesday last November. But they climbed 33 per cent from 0.3 cents to 0.4 cents this morning.

Not Dead: Factor Therapeutics just raised $417,000

In other ASX corporate news today…

Apiam Animal Health (ASX: AHX) has completed the buy of an lab services firm, focused on animal producers, initially announced a month ago. It will pay $12.4 million – $9.9 million in cash and the remainder in Apiam shares. The company declared the buy meant Apiam was now a ‘leading player’ in its markets.

The ASX are continuing to investigate the financial state of dentist franchisor Smiles Inclusive (ASX: SIL). Diminished-goods expense of $13.7 million took its net loss after tax to $18.88 million. But last week it said that its audited results would put the impairment over $11 million higher. The ASX asked Smiles when it knew of this and if it considered this price-sensitive. Smiles said it knew one day before its annual report was out and said it did not consider it was sensitive. It said the market was aware of its issues and knew the impairment figure in August was not final.

Identitii (ASX: ID8) also received an ASX query, specifically an ‘aware query’ after announcing last week it had been chosen by the ACCC to test the Consumer Data Right ecosystem. Identitii told the ASX it did not consider this price sensitive because it would not receive revenues and testing was purely technical and came without guarantees it would participate in the ecosystem next year. “Identitii does not have any say in the development of or future refinement of the ecosystem”, it said.