Latest news with #PolyNovo
News.com.au
18-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
‘Burdensome': PolyNovo Chair slams ASX governance rules
PolyNovo Chairman David Williams has spoken on his company's expansion from 25 to 46 companies over the last year. 'It's burdensome, obviously, and there's no shortage of people that'll tell you why would you ever want to be a public company director. The technology itself in this company doesn't really matter, whether it's in a public company or a private company,' Mr Williams told Sky News Business Editor Ross Greenwood. 'I make no apologies for the fact that I'm very aggressive at these things, even though someone might want to kick the hell out of me in the press. Don't care. 'We've got technology that is world-beating, and I'm determined to get it to the world as quickly as I can and aggressively as I can in terms of work ethic and pushing this.'
Sky News AU
17-05-2025
- Business
- Sky News AU
'Doesn't worry me': PolyNovo chairman David Williams hits back at 'woke' investing by super funds
The chairman of a major Australian healthcare business has hit back at super funds which choose to invest in companies they deem 'PC enough'. Watch the full interview with the chairman of a major Australian company on Business Weekend at 11am (AEST). David Williams, the chairman of $1.03b skin grafting company PolyNovo, has reportedly said he makes no apologies for his 'aggressive' management style and that he is 'determined to grow business' despite this possibly 'challenging some people with various woke views'. Mr Williams courted controversy earlier this year after PolyNovo's CEO Swami Raote exited in March. The former chief executive left after failing to reach an agreement with PolyNovo's board about issues regarding 'certain interactions' between Mr Williams and members of management. Mr Williams joined Sky News' Business Weekend where Ross Greenwood asked whether the chairman was troubled by 'industry super funds that have got watchlists on companies it deems 'PC enough' for them to invest in'. 'No, it doesn't worry me whatsoever,' Mr Williams said. 'We got a bit of bad publicity for it, but I can tell you, and some of this is public, some of the biggest institutions in the world have come in on the back of that. 'Fidelity, for example, put a notice out that they'd gone to 9.1 per cent. 'While some people might be offended (over) political correctness and choose to go with their feet, there are plenty of people in the US and in Europe who are buying our stock and then publicly announcing it.' Mr Williams told the Australian Financial Review, after Mr Raote exited the company, the election of United States President Donald Trump had sparked a change in corporate culture. 'There has been a sea change, as a lot of executives will tell you, just since Trump came in,' he said. 'You are seeing people back to the office, forget about diversity. Trump has emboldened a lot of people, but you have got to watch your Ps and Qs.' The comments come as some industry super funds recently revealed divestments from the ASX's largest tech company WiseTech over its founder Richard White's allegedly inappropriate behaviour. AustralianSuper slowly sold its $580m stake in the company earlier in the year, while HESTA last week revealed WiseTech had been added to its 'watchlist' over governance concerns. 'We believe developments in recent months call into question the company's ability to make the necessary changes to restore investor confidence,' the fund said in a statement. 'Our concerns relate to the conduct and actions of the Executive Chair, the lack of independence of the WiseTech Board, and uncertainty regarding company leadership and succession, as well as news of ASIC's preliminary enquiries.' Aware Super, which owns more than one per cent of WiseTech, also revealed it is watching the company's governance.
Yahoo
06-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Both individual investors who control a good portion of PolyNovo Limited (ASX:PNV) along with institutions must be dismayed after last week's 12% decrease
Significant control over PolyNovo by individual investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions A total of 25 investors have a majority stake in the company with 42% ownership Recent sales by insiders Trump has pledged to "unleash" American oil and gas and these 15 US stocks have developments that are poised to benefit. To get a sense of who is truly in control of PolyNovo Limited (ASX:PNV), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. We can see that individual investors own the lion's share in the company with 56% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn). While institutions who own 31% came under pressure after market cap dropped to AU$725m last week,individual investors took the most losses. Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about PolyNovo. Check out our latest analysis for PolyNovo Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing. We can see that PolyNovo does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see PolyNovo's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story. Hedge funds don't have many shares in PolyNovo. Fidelity International Ltd is currently the company's largest shareholder with 8.6% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 5.0% and 4.8%, of the shares outstanding, respectively. On studying our ownership data, we found that 25 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest. Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. There are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future. The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it. Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances. Our most recent data indicates that insiders own some shares in PolyNovo Limited. As individuals, the insiders collectively own AU$72m worth of the AU$725m company. Some would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. But it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling. The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a substantial 56% stake in PolyNovo, suggesting it is a fairly popular stock. This size of ownership gives investors from the general public some collective power. They can and probably do influence decisions on executive compensation, dividend policies and proposed business acquisitions. I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for PolyNovo you should know about. Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company . NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
Reuters
10-03-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Australia's PolyNovo chief steps down after reports of rift with chair
March 11 (Reuters) - Australian biotech company PolyNovo ( opens new tab said on Tuesday it has removed its CEO after discussions with the executive last week following media allegations about bullying by the firm's chairman directed at its CEO. Shares of the company fell as much as 7.2% to A$1.165 at 2313 GMT, its lowest level since November 1, 2023. The Australian newspaper has published a series of reports alleging "bullying" by chairman David Williams against CEO Swami Raote and finance head Jan Gielen. Raote will be replaced by current non-executive director Robyn Elliot as the acting CEO until a permanent replacement is found. The company earlier this month said it had held talks with Raote over an agreement for him to leave the firm - a plan that would have seen Elliott step in as interim CEO. It remains unclear why the board held confidential discussions with the CEO about stepping down. Raote could not immediately be reached for comment. The Australian reported that PolyNovo's board had engaged barristers Philip Crutchfield KC and Katherine Brazenor in October last year to hold discussions with management team members regarding issues raised about interactions between Williams and some members. Following interviews with senior staff, Crutchfield and Brazenor recommended Williams step down as chairman, the report added. Keep up with the latest medical breakthroughs and healthcare trends with the Reuters Health Rounds newsletter. Sign up here.
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
We Think That There Are Issues Underlying PolyNovo's (ASX:PNV) Earnings
Despite announcing strong earnings, PolyNovo Limited's (ASX:PNV) stock was sluggish. We did some digging and found some worrying underlying problems. See our latest analysis for PolyNovo As finance nerds would already know, the accrual ratio from cashflow is a key measure for assessing how well a company's free cash flow (FCF) matches its profit. The accrual ratio subtracts the FCF from the profit for a given period, and divides the result by the average operating assets of the company over that time. You could think of the accrual ratio from cashflow as the 'non-FCF profit ratio'. That means a negative accrual ratio is a good thing, because it shows that the company is bringing in more free cash flow than its profit would suggest. That is not intended to imply we should worry about a positive accrual ratio, but it's worth noting where the accrual ratio is rather high. That's because some academic studies have suggested that high accruals ratios tend to lead to lower profit or less profit growth. PolyNovo has an accrual ratio of 0.60 for the year to December 2024. Statistically speaking, that's a real negative for future earnings. And indeed, during the period the company didn't produce any free cash flow whatsoever. In the last twelve months it actually had negative free cash flow, with an outflow of AU$16m despite its profit of AU$5.91m, mentioned above. Coming off the back of negative free cash flow last year, we imagine some shareholders might wonder if its cash burn of AU$16m, this year, indicates high risk. Having said that, there is more to the story. The accrual ratio is reflecting the impact of unusual items on statutory profit, at least in part. That might leave you wondering what analysts are forecasting in terms of future profitability. Luckily, you can click here to see an interactive graph depicting future profitability, based on their estimates. Unfortunately (in the short term) PolyNovo saw its profit reduced by unusual items worth AU$722k. If this was a non-cash charge, it would have made the accrual ratio better, if cashflow had stayed strong, so it's not great to see in combination with an uninspiring accrual ratio. While deductions due to unusual items are disappointing in the first instance, there is a silver lining. We looked at thousands of listed companies and found that unusual items are very often one-off in nature. And that's hardly a surprise given these line items are considered unusual. If PolyNovo doesn't see those unusual expenses repeat, then all else being equal we'd expect its profit to increase over the coming year. In conclusion, PolyNovo's accrual ratio suggests that its statutory earnings are not backed by cash flow, even though unusual items weighed on profit. Based on these factors, we think it's very unlikely that PolyNovo's statutory profits make it seem much weaker than it is. If you'd like to know more about PolyNovo as a business, it's important to be aware of any risks it's facing. For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign that you should run your eye over to get a better picture of PolyNovo. In this article we've looked at a number of factors that can impair the utility of profit numbers, as a guide to a business. But there is always more to discover if you are capable of focussing your mind on minutiae. Some people consider a high return on equity to be a good sign of a quality business. So you may wish to see this free collection of companies boasting high return on equity, or this list of stocks with high insider ownership. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Sign in to access your portfolio
