Aceto Value Stock - Dividend - Research Selection

Description of the company

Aceto Corporation, together with its consolidated subsidiaries, are referred to herein collectively as “Aceto”, “the Company”, “we”, “us”, and “our”, unless the context indicates otherwise. Aceto was incorporated in 1947 in the State of New York. We are an international company engaged in the development, marketing, sales and distribution of finished dosage form generic pharmaceuticals, nutraceutical products, pharmaceutical active ingredients and intermediates, specialty performance chemicals inclusive of agricultural intermediates and agricultural protection products. Our business is organized along product lines into three principal segments: Human Health, Pharmaceutical Ingredients and Performance Chemicals.

We believe our main business strengths are sourcing, regulatory support, quality assurance and marketing and distribution. Aceto functions as a virtual manufacturing company, distributing more than 1,100 chemical compounds used principally as finished products or raw materials in the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, agricultural, coatings and industrial chemical industries. With business operations in ten countries, we believe that our global reach is distinctive in the industry, enabling us to source and supply quality products on a worldwide basis. Leveraging local professionals, we source more than two-thirds of our products from Asia, buying from approximately 500 companies in China and 200 in India. One supplier accounted for 16% of purchases in fiscal 2017 and 0% in 2016.

Strategic relationships with manufacturers of pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, agricultural and specialty chemical products in the United States and internationally serve as a valuable resource to Aceto customers, enabling them to procure vital chemical based products necessary for their diverse and complex applications. A strong global technical network differentiates Aceto from commodity distribution companies. With regional managers in the United States, Europe and Asia, we provide regulatory support and quality assurance for customers and suppliers worldwide. Our regulatory network ensures that all products we distribute are produced to applicable required standards and conform to customer specifications for their intended end use.

Our presence in China, Germany, France, The Netherlands, Singapore, India, Hong Kong, Philippines, the United Kingdom and the United States, along with strategically located warehouses worldwide, enable us to respond quickly to demands from customers worldwide, assuring that a consistent, high-quality supply of pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, specialty chemicals and agricultural protection products are readily accessible. We are able to offer our customers competitive pricing, continuity of supply, and quality control. Highly experienced staff, approximately one-third of whom are technically trained, enable Aceto to meet individual customer needs. Our marketing, sales, regulatory and technical professionals possess an intimate knowledge of worldwide sources of supply and product applications, as well as statutory and technical requirements. Many of our professionals are respected leaders in their industry, bringing 25 or more years of experience to customer applications. This longevity has fostered confidence and loyalty among customers and suppliers.

Aceto partners with customers during the product development process, creating new applications for existing products, as well as new product sourcing opportunities. We offer solutions for product and production challenges, while assisting with quality assurance, government approvals and compliance. All of these value-added services allow Aceto’s customers to be more responsive to their end use customers and more competitive in the global marketplace. We believe our 70 years of experience, our reputation for reliability and stability, and our long-term relationships with suppliers have fostered loyalty among our customers.

We remain confident about our business prospects. We anticipate organic growth through our plans to introduce new products for finished dosage form generic drugs, the further globalization of our nutraceutical business, the continued globalization of our Performance Chemicals business, the expansion of our agricultural protection products by investing in product lines and intellectual property, the continued enhancement of our sourcing operations in China and India, and the steady improvement of our quality assurance and regulatory capabilities.

We believe our track record of continuous product introductions demonstrates our commitment to be recognized by the worldwide generic pharmaceutical industry as an important, reliable supplier. Our plans involve seeking strategic acquisitions that enhance our earnings and forming alliances with partners that add to our capabilities, when possible.

Other than product rights and license agreements for certain of our finished dosage form generic products which are part of our Human Health business and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) registrations for our Performance Chemicals, we hold no patents, franchises or concessions that we consider material to our operations.

Information concerning revenue and gross profit attributable to each of our reportable segments and geographic information is found in Part II, Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”, and in Note 19 to the Consolidated Financial Statements, Part II, Item 8, “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.”

Human Health

Products that fall within the Human Health segment include finished dosage form generic drugs and nutraceutical products. Aceto sells generic prescription products and over-the-counter pharmaceutical products to leading wholesalers, chain drug stores, distributors and mass merchandisers. On December 21, 2016, Aceto’s Rising Pharmaceuticals subsidiary (“Rising”) completed the acquisition of certain generic products and related assets of entities formerly known as Citron Pharma LLC (“Citron”), and its affiliate Lucid Pharma LLC (“Lucid”). Rising formed two subsidiaries to consummate the product acquisition – Rising Health, LLC (which acquired certain products and related assets of Citron) and Acetris Health, LLC (which acquired certain products and related assets of Lucid). Citron is a privately-held New Jersey-based pharmaceutical company focused on developing and marketing generic pharmaceutical products in partnership with leading generic pharmaceutical manufacturers based in India and the U.S. Lucid is a privately-held New Jersey-based generic pharmaceutical distributor specializing in providing cost-effective products to various agencies of the U.S. Federal Government including the Veterans Administration and the Defense Logistics Agency. Lucid services 18 national contracts with the Federal Government, nearly all of which have 5-year terms.

Aceto and Rising Health possess complementary asset-light business models, drug development and manufacturing partnerships and product portfolios. We believe that, consistent with our strategy of expanding Rising’s portfolio of finished dosage form generic products through product development partnerships and acquisitions of late stage assets, abbreviated new drug applications (“ANDAs”) and complementary generic drug businesses, this product acquisition significantly expanded our roster of commercialized products and pipeline of products under development. In addition, we believe that this transaction greatly enhanced our size and stature within the generic pharmaceutical industry, expanded our partnership network and offers us opportunities to realize meaningful cost and tax efficiencies, as well as representing an integral component of Aceto's continued strategy to become a Human Health oriented company.

According to a QuintilesIMS press release on May 5, 2017, growth in U.S. spending on prescription medicines fell in 2016 as competition intensified among manufacturers, and payers ramped up efforts to limit price increases. According to the QuintilesIMS Institute study, “Drug spending grew at a 4.8 percent pace in 2016 to $323 billion, less than half the rate of the previous two years, after adjusting for off-invoice discounts and rebates. The surge of innovative medicine introductions paused in 2016, with fewer than half as many new drugs launched than in 2014 and 2015. While the total use of medicines continued to climb—with total prescriptions dispensed reaching 6.1 billion, up 3.3 percent over 2015 levels—the spike in new patients being treated for hepatitis C ebbed, which contributed to the decline in spend. Net price increases—reflecting rebates and other price breaks from manufacturers—averaged 3.5 percent last year, up from 2.5 percent in 2015.”

Aceto supplies the raw materials used in the production of nutritional and packaged dietary supplements, including vitamins, amino acids, iron compounds and biochemicals used in pharmaceutical and nutritional preparations.

Pharmaceutical Ingredients

The Pharmaceutical Ingredients segment has two product groups: Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and Pharmaceutical Intermediates.

We supply APIs to many of the major generic drug companies, who we believe view Aceto as a valued partner in their effort to develop and market generic drugs. The process of introducing a new API from pipeline to market spans a number of years and begins with Aceto partnering with a generic pharmaceutical manufacturer and jointly selecting an API, several years before the expiration of a composition of matter patent, for future genericizing. We then identify the appropriate supplier, and concurrently utilizing our global technical network, work to ensure they meet standards of quality to comply with regulations. Our client, the generic pharmaceutical company, will submit the ANDA for U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) approval or European-equivalent approval. The introduction of the API to market occurs after all the development testing has been completed and the ANDA or European-equivalent is approved and the patent expires or is deemed invalid. Aceto, at all times, has a pipeline of APIs at various stages of development both in the United States and Europe. Additionally, as the pressure to lower the overall cost of healthcare increases, Aceto has focused on, and works very closely with our customers to develop new API opportunities to provide alternative, more economical, second-source options for existing generic drugs. By leveraging our worldwide sourcing, regulatory and quality assurance capabilities, we provide to generic drug manufacturers an alternative, economical source for existing API products.

Aceto has long been a supplier of pharmaceutical intermediates, the complex chemical compounds that are the building blocks used in producing APIs. These are the critical components of all drugs, whether they are already on the market or currently undergoing clinical trials. Faced with significant economic pressures as well as ever-increasing regulatory barriers, the innovative drug companies look to Aceto as a source for high quality intermediates.

Aceto employs, on occasion, the same second source strategy for our pharmaceutical intermediates business that we use in our API business. Historically, pharmaceutical manufacturers have had one source for the intermediates needed to produce their products. Utilizing our global sourcing, regulatory support and quality assurance network, Aceto works with the large, global pharmaceutical companies, sourcing lower cost, quality pharmaceutical intermediates that will meet the same high level standards that their current commercial products adhere to.

According to a QuintilesIMS press release on December 6, 2016, “total spending on medicines is forecast to reach $1.5 trillion by 2021, up 33 percent from 2016 levels, even as annual growth moderates from the record pace set in 2014 and 2015, according to new research released by the QuintilesIMS Institute. While historically large numbers of high-quality new medicines will emerge from the R&D pipeline in the next five years, pricing and market access pressures, lower volume growth in pharmerging markets and greater savings from patent expiries will contribute to the lower rate of growth. The report, Outlook for Global Medicines Through 2021: Balancing Cost and Value, found that medicine spending will grow at a 4-7 percent compound annual rate during the next five years, down from the nearly 9 percent growth level seen in 2014 and 2015. The total global spend for pharmaceuticals through 2021 will increase by $367 billion on a constant-dollar basis. Spending is measured at the ex-manufacturer level before adjusting for rebates, discounts, taxes and other adjustments that affect net sales received by manufacturers. The impact of these factors is estimated to reduce growth by $127 billion, or approximately 35 percent of the growth forecast through 2021.”

Performance Chemicals

The Performance Chemicals segment includes specialty chemicals and agricultural protection products.

Aceto is a major supplier to many different industrial segments providing chemicals used in the manufacture of plastics, surface coatings, cosmetics and personal care, textiles, fuels and lubricants. The paint and coatings industry produces products that bring color, texture, and protection to houses, furniture, packaging, paper, and durable goods. Many of today's coatings are eco-friendly, by allowing inks and coatings to be cured by ultraviolet light instead of solvents, or allowing power coatings to be cured without solvents. These growing technologies are critical in protecting and enhancing the world's ecology and Aceto is focused on supplying the specialty additives that make modern coating techniques possible.

The chemistry that makes much of the modern world possible is often done by building up simple molecules to sophisticated compounds in step-by-step chemical processes. The products that are incorporated in each step are known as intermediates and they can be as varied as the end uses they serve, such as crop protection products, dyes and pigments, textiles, fuel additives, electronics - essentially all things chemical.

Aceto provides various specialty chemicals for the food, flavor, fragrance, paper and film industries. Aceto’s raw materials are also used in sophisticated technology products, such as high-end electronic parts used for photo tooling, circuit boards, production of computer chips, and in the production of many of today's modern gadgets.

According to a July 14, 2017 Federal Reserve Statistical Release, in the second quarter of calendar year 2017, the index for consumer durables, which impacts the Specialty Chemicals business of the Performance Chemicals segment, is expected to increase at an annual rate of 1.3%.

Aceto’s agricultural protection products include herbicides, fungicides and insecticides, which control weed growth as well as the spread of insects and microorganisms that can severely damage plant growth. One of Aceto's most widely used agricultural protection products is a sprout inhibitor that extends the storage life of potatoes. Utilizing our global sourcing and regulatory capabilities, we identify and qualify manufacturers either producing the product or with knowledge of the chemistry necessary to produce the product, and then file an application with the U.S. EPA for a product registration. Aceto has an ongoing working relationship with manufacturers in China and India to determine which of the non-patented or generic, agricultural protection products they produce can be effectively marketed in the Western world. We have successfully brought numerous products to market. We have a strong pipeline, which includes future additions to our product portfolio. The combination of our global sourcing and regulatory capabilities makes the generic agricultural market a niche for us and we will continue to offer new product additions in this market. In the National Agricultural Statistics Services release dated June 30, 2017, the total crop acreage planted in the United States in 2017 decreased by .3% to 318 million acres from 319 million acres in 2016. The number of peanut acres planted in 2017 increased 8.8% from 2016 levels while sugarcane acreage harvested decreased 3.4% from 2016. In addition, the potato acreage harvested in 2017 increased approximately .7% from the 2016 level.

Research and Development Expenses

Research and development expenses (R&D) represent investment in our generic finished dosage form product pipeline. R&D expenses during fiscal years 2017, 2016 and 2015 were $7,898, $7,937 and $5,942 respectively.