Rhinomed breathing easy thanks to strong March quarter, shares rise 26pc

Breathing medtech company Rhinomed (ASX:RNO) had its best day on the ASX in about six months on Monday, hitting highs of 24c after pushing out its March quarterly update.

Rhinomed is developing a range of nasal, respiratory and breathing management technologies, including its sleep apnoea device Mute, which has been purchased by members of the US military.

It told the market quarterly revenue had increased by 64 per cent to a tick over $1 million, and that in the three quarters of FY19 thus far it had earned $2.4 million, exceeding its full-year 2018 revenue. And, Rhinomed says, about a further $579,000 worth of products that it has sold has yet to be recognised as revenue.

The company is also on the cusp of releasing a new product, entitled Pronto, to the market. Pronto is a rechargeable, dual action, vapour release technology based on the company’s existing BreatheAssist stenting technology that allows a specific amount of a formulation to be released into the nasal airstream over a set period of time.

Two product lines will be developed initially, one for head colds and the other for sleep onset issues, which the company estimates have a global market value of around $10.8 billion.

Research house Morgans are recommending investors add Rhinomed to their portfolio, with a target price of 51c, and analyst Scott Power told Stockhead yesterday it was holding its line on the company.

“The quarterly was good, a solid result,” Power said. “The launch of the new product sees them entering the nasal decongestant space, and it’s a really good example of a company using its technology across different platforms and indications.”

This, combined with its work with large US-based medicinal cannabis company Columbia Care, is driving traction for Rhinomed, Power said.

“After a while, Rhinomed is starting to gain traction and put on quarter-on-quarter growth, things are starting to come together.”

The company shipped 71,554 units in the March quarter, up 39 per cent on the previous quarter and taking the total figure to well over 200,000 units shipped.

It attributes the rise to advertising and marketing, which is sitting at $1.3 million for the year to date.

“There is a strong correlation between advertising investment and the number of units sold in the US market,” it said. “Prudent and continual investment in increasing brand awareness of the Mute technology will deliver a consistent and growing return in revenues.

“We are transforming from being a company with a small range of products driven by ‘door growth’ to an innovation led business expanding its growing suite of disruptive products in to new and adjacent categories within its existing global retail network.”