Carmat rebounded strongly on the stock market on Thursday, with a gain of nearly 10% at the height of the early morning. The inventor of the artificial heart announced that it had completed its investigation into the quality problems that had been identified with some of its prostheses, which caused a 24% drop in the share during the December 6 session.
” This investigation, now completed, made it possible to identify the origin of the quality problem, and to determine the changes required to prevent it from recurring. », Explains Carmat in a press release. The results of this investigation will be sent to the competent regulators, particularly in France (ANSM, National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products) and in the United States (FDA, Food & Drug Administration). A new situation update will be made during the month of January. Management thus hopes to be able to present a schedule for the resumption of facilities within a few weeks.
A study of 20 interventions
By mid-November, Carmat had carried out its first establishment in the Netherlands, which had brought the number of interventions carried out to 16, out of the 20 in the company’s PIVOT study, with a timetable, for the set of operations, set for the first half of 2022. It should have taken a little late.
The company can afford to wait until then. At the end of June, it had 57.1 million euros in cash, reinforced by nearly 22 million in the space of a year, enough to cover the needs of the company until the middle of the year. next precisely. It is difficult to see, however, and given the importance of the work, Carmat being let go by its shareholders or by the Stock Exchange if it were to raise new funds.
A stable shareholder base
The identified shareholders now own 48.2% of Carmat’s capital, ie a free float of 51.8%. Matra Défense, of the Airbus group, holds in particular 10.9% of the interests of medtech, Professor Carpentier, at the origin of the project, and his association 4.3%, the businessman Pierre Bastid (via Lohas SARL ) 9.2%, the investment fund Corely Belgium (Gaspard family) 7.8% and Santé Holdings, of Doctor Antonino Ligresti, 7.4%. During the last capital increase in March, Lohas SARL, Corely Belgium, Bratya (also from the Gaspard family) and Santé Holdings participated in the operation for an amount of 10 million euros.
The consensus of analysts is favorable. Gilbert Dupont is a buyer with a target price of 37 euros, just like Oddo BHF to target 42 euros, or the Americans Ladenburg-Thalmann (39.50 euros) and HC Wainwright (38 euros). The action costs just over 21 euros.