Julian Hofmann

3 weeks ago | investorschronicle.co.uk | Julian Hofmann

Investment Risk: High Investment Style: ValueInvestment Timescale: Medium termElementis (ELM) has found itself stuck in a deep rut in recent years. Issues with its talc business, which has been bedevilled by weak demand, has resulted in a strategic review that could see this segment offloaded entirely. At the same time, cost inflation, activist pressure, strike action and a generally sluggish industrial backdrop have made life even more difficult for the specialist chemicals company.

3 weeks ago | investorschronicle.co.uk | Michael Fahy |Julian Hofmann

Duties were not as steep as expected for the UK, but the impacts will reverberate beyond the hardest-hit countriesPublished on April 3, 2025by Michael Fahy and Julian HofmannGlobal markets fell after US President Donald Trump made a “declaration of economic independence” on Wednesday, imposing a sliding scale of tariffs on the country’s main trading partners. In Asia, the Nikkei 225 fell by 2.8 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell by 1.5 per cent.

3 weeks ago | investorschronicle.co.uk | Julian Hofmann

Company enters bid talksSees strong revenue growthSome investors may remember Niox (NIOX) in its prior incarnation as Circassia, although the change of name has not shifted the company’s emphasis on point-of-care testing for asthma. In the intervening years since the name change it has quietly built up a substantial niche in asthma medical testing devices, to the extent that Niox is itself now subject to a potential bid, which somewhat overshadowed the numbers on results day.

3 weeks ago | investorschronicle.co.uk | Julian Hofmann

Slower than expected troponin salesFull-year profits expected to be lowerBioventix (BVXP) is a specialist within a highly specialised area. In producing monoclonal antibodies in sheep that can then be used as the basis for disease markers and treatments for hard-to-detect conditions, it occupies an almost unique niche. But not even this was enough to overcome what looked like a disappointingly slow half, reflected in the share price nearing a 12-month low.

1 month ago | investorschronicle.co.uk | Julian Hofmann

Operating profits tripleNew CEO takes over EKF Diagnostics (EKF) has endured a prolonged period of restructuring and cost control as the company, which makes point-of-care testing systems and consumables for diabetes and haematology, tried to get its costs under control and its cash from operations flowing. Those goals seem to have been largely met in these results, which means the company will be able to focus on more than just firefighting.