The best things in life are worth waiting for. Indeed after a couple of years largely ignored by the market, shares in consumer healthcare products firm Venture Life Group plc have almost tripled from their Oct’23 lows of 23p.
That said the stock at 61.5p is still offers attractive value - trading on May FY’26 multiples of 0.8x EV/revs and 5.2x EV/EBITDA - especially given the double digit organic growth anticipated from its Power brands (re Balance Activ, Health & Her/Him, Lift and Earol).
In fact as an indication of this intrinsic worth, the company this morning announced the disposal of its non-core oral care assets (re Ultradex and Dentyl) for up to £4.5m (£3.75m to be paid at completion) to Covestus Healthcare Limited - representing 11x FY24 EBITDA. Separately too, even consumer healthcare firm Alliance Pharma whose sales were declining, was ultimately acquired by private equity house DBAY for 9.8x EV/EBITDA earlier in 2025.
Additionally for me, today’s deal makes perfect strategic sense, since it frees up capital for the Board to invest in future organic and acquisition growth, alongside enabling it to buy back shares.
In terms of the numbers, house broker Cavendish have a 100p target price, based on May FY26 turnover, EBITDA, EBIT and EPS estimates rising to £50.4m, £8.0m, £1.9m and 3.8p.
CEO Jerry Randall commenting: "I am pleased that we have been able to divest these non-core assets to a new owner that will continue to develop them. As we have indicated before these assets no longer form part of our strategic vision for Venture Life Group plc, so the divestment allows us to recycle the funds raised into our core focus categories and brands working out our 5-pillar strategic growth plan."
"I am delighted with the post divestment progress since we disposed of our CDMO businesses earlier this year, and the collaboration with the Healthea (the purchasers of CDMO) where we are growing and strengthening the ongoing relationship for our mutual profitable growth. As well as generating significant funds for us to drive the growth of Venture Life, the divestment to the Healthea has also bought significant operational benefits including accelerated innovation opportunities and strengthened quality of supply. These two divestments have significantly simplified the Group and in conjunction with our new Microsoft D365 ERP system, which is now going live, we have a much more streamlined, agile and scalable business."
Disclosure: Venture Life Group plc is a Vox Markets client.