Escala Partners' PE owners succeed in ending staff's 51pc interest
Sources said Escala staff on Monday voted in favour of dissolving 2nd Chapter Pty, a staff-owned entity that holds the right to collect roughly half of the Melbourne-based business' revenue. The structure has been in place since 2019 when Escala was acquired by New York's Focus Financial Partners, and had ensured its top rainmakers got a slice of the revenues in perpetuity.
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News.com.au
2 hours ago
- News.com.au
Woman at centre of Coldplay kiss cam scandal resigns
The woman at the centre of the Coldplay kiss cam scandal has resigned. Kristin Cabot, who was caught on the jumbotron canoodling with her boss Andy Byron at the UK band's Boston concert last Wednesday, has stepped down as the HR chief at Astronomer, a job she held for less than a year. The New York-based tech company confirmed the news in a statement on Thursday, US time. 'I can confirm that Kristin Cabot is no longer with Astronomer, she has resigned,' a spokesperson for the company told Page Six. It comes days after Byron also resigned from his job as the firm's CEO. 'As stated previously, Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding. Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met,' a rep for the tech company said on Saturday. 'Andy Byron has tendered his resignation, and the Board of Directors has accepted. The Board will begin a search for our next Chief Executive as Cofounder and Chief Product Officer Pete DeJoy continues to serve as interim CEO.' After the pair infamously scrambled to hide from the concert kiss cam, and subsequently made headlines around the world, Astronomer announced it was launching a formal investigation into the scandal and placed Cabot and Byron on leave. Coldplay frontman Chris Martin was left bewildered by their actions on the big screen, joking onstage the pair were either 'really shy or having an affair', as details swiftly emerged about their respective marriages. Byron, who is estimated to have a net worth of $A76 million, is married to a woman named Megan Kerrigan Byron, who has since removed his last name from her Facebook and deactivated her social media accounts. She is yet to comment publicly. Cabot, for her part, appears to be married to Privateer Rum's CEO Andrew Cabot, since they share the same last name and are co-owners of the same house in New Hampshire. She divorced her first husband, Kenneth Thornby, in 2022, according to Massachusetts court records. Neither Byron nor Cabot have commented on the affair allegations. Meanwhile, the fate of both their respective marriages remains unknown. Cabot was hired as the company's human resources officer in November 2024, while Byron held the position of CEO from July 2023.
News.com.au
3 hours ago
- News.com.au
Innovation isn't enough – why Morgans says profitability drives ASX healthcare success
Morgans' Scott Power says path to profitability is key to a successful emerging ASX health care company While innovation is important, Power says the market loses interest in companies which don't turn a profit Wound care company Aroa Biosurgery delivered its first normalised profit in FY25 since listing in 2020 What makes a successful emerging ASX healthcare company and a smart investment? It's the question with no single answer but according to the experts there are certain factors investors should look for, including combining innovative science with strong commercial potential, a path to market and profitability. Morgans' senior healthcare analyst Scott Power has been covering the ASX sector for more than 27 years. He said success isn't just about innovation, but strong sales execution and market delivery. Successful players secure clinical validation, navigate regulatory hurdles efficiently and target real, unmet needs to help not only patients but deliver returns for investors. Indeed it is this path to profitability that Power sees as crucial overarching requirement for success. "You can develop a product and put a lot of R&D into it but ultimately it needs to get to market and be sold with profits being generated if you are going to grow as a listed company," Power told Stockhead. "Our pool of funding over here is not deep enough to keep funding the next idea compared with the US where capital markets are deeper and can fund R&D right through to commercialisation. "The market loses interest in companies which continue to produce losses." Power said that in what has been a tough market for the last several years for the ASX emerging healthcare sector, having a clear path to profitability was imperative. "In the last month I have seen a turnaround in level of interest and rotation back to the sector with share prices starting to move," he said. "The companies that are profitable or have a clear path to profitability are the ones being rewarded." Case in point… Aroa delivers maiden profit for FY25 New Zealand-based soft-tissue repair company Aroa Biosurgery (ASX:ARX) surged into the black in FY25, delivering its first profit since listing on the ASX in 2020. Operating under the Kiwi financial year, which ends on March 31, Aroa reported a normalised EBITDA profit of NZ$4.2 million for FY25 – a sharp turnaround from the NZ$3.1m loss recorded in FY24. Total revenue for FY25 of NZ$84.7m was an increase of 23% on the previous year and exceeded guidance of NZ$81-84m. "For them it's a balance between how much money they want to continue to invest in R&D and how quickly they want to grow EBITDA," Power said. "Given their revenue is growing at 20% and they're holding their R&D in absolute terms stable they're getting there and could get their faster by pulling back on the R&D but then it becomes a question of how innovative do they want to remain at expense of profitability? "It is a tough question to balance because on one hand you have a bigger pool of investors, which will look at you if you're profitable and another smaller pool looking for the innovation, so the next ProMedicus (ASX:PME), Cochlear (ASX:COH) or ResMed (ASX:RMD)." Strength in innovation While the point's been made here that a strong path to profitability is critical to sustained success, Power noted Aroa's great strength lies firstly in innovation. Its products are derived from ovine forestomach matrix (sheep rumen) sourced exclusively from New Zealand. The matrix is processed and sterilised to remove DNA and cells, leaving a tissue scaffold called the ECM for new tissue to grow, which contains a dense network of vascular channels – a structure like human skin – and more than 150 proteins critical to healing. Aroa has developed several products using its ECM technology including Endoform, Myriad and Symphony – each designed to support soft tissue repair across a range of surgical and wound care applications. "They have a lot of peer-reviewed scientific studies which have been published," Power said. "Aroa's scientific know-how is very high and they have continued to innovate with new product offerings, with a strong R&D team." The company has a hybrid approach to selling its products with a direct sales force for selling Endoform, Myriad and Symphony. Hernia repair and breast reconstruction product Ovitex is manufactured by Aroa on behalf of its Nasdaq-listed business partner TELA Bio. Does the product fill an unmet need? Morgans' healthcare analyst Iain Wilkie reckons filling an unmet medical need or shortfall in existing standard of care is also important to success for an emerging ASX healthcare company. "It either needs to be better than the existing standard of care or perform the same but be cheaper," he told Stockhead. "You would probably say the easiest path to market is if it is an improvement or filling an unmet medical need." Wilkie said a good example was EBR Systems (ASX:EBR), which in April gained US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for its WiSE CRT System – the world's only wireless endocardial (placed within the heart) pacing system in clinical use for stimulating the heart's left ventricle. "EBR has just started selling its WiSE and it has a very clear case of targeting an unmet medical need and fixing a problem which exists and being the only device which can do it," Wilkie said. He noted Nanosonics (ASX:NAN) was also a good example of a healthcare company addressing an unmet need in the healthcare sector. Nanosonics has been a leader in infection prevention with its flagship Trophon system – an automated ultrasound probe cleaner that uses sonically-activated hydrogen peroxide mist. Trophon has become standard of care for cleaning ultrasound probers in several countries, including Australia. In March 2025, Nanosonics received FDA de novo clearance for Coris, the world's first automated system specifically designed to clean the internal channels of flexible endoscopes. "They've already got one product which has been selling well for almost two decades and now they're launching their new product," he said. At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Aroa Biosurgery and EBR Systems are Stockhead advertisers, the companies did not sponsor this article.
The Age
5 hours ago
- The Age
Firehouse pub sale to raze the roof as long-time owner sounds siren for last drinks
Motel Molly, at 2 Shepherd Street, is a boutique, near-beachfront accommodation hotel featuring 16 rooms. The previous owners, the Knox Group, opened the doors in the past few months of 2022 after a comprehensive refurbishment. In Sydney's eastern suburbs, the 42-room, six-storey boutique accommodation asset, UME Potts Point at 39A Elizabeth Bay Road, has been sold to Carpe Diem Partners, which recently bought the sister boutique site, UME Potts Point, for about $7.98 million. The private fund is run by former Goldman Sachs banker Simon Wheatley and will add to its growing portfolio, which has a focus on developing more assets in the burgeoning co-living property sector. The combined Mollymook and Potts Point sales were worth about $20 million. HTL Property's Andrew Jolliffe and Andrew Jackson advised on the sales, while Ray White Commercial also worked on the Potts Point deal. Ampol HQ Fuel refiner and retailer Ampol is raising cash through the sale of headquarters in the heart of Sydney's south with a price tag of about $100 million. The 9475-square-metre site at 29 Bourke Street, Alexandria, covers four levels with a six-year lease to the group. There is an architecturally designed atrium, advanced end-of-trip facilities and a six-star NABERS Energy rating. The Colliers team of Michael Crombie, Adam Woodward, James Mitchell and Gillian Kaplan are advising on the sale. Ampol is also selling a portfolio of 13 development sites around the country. Included is a mix of metropolitan and regional locations, spanning five states with sites ranging from 1265 sq m to 3073 sq m. Included are properties Tumbarumba, NSW, and Portland, Victoria. They are undeveloped and come with flexible zoning in many locations. The ASX-listed group told investors on Wednesday that its first-half earnings before interest and taxes were expected to total $400 million, compared with $502.1 million reported last year. It said tighter refining margins and a 6.1 per cent fall in first-half sales volumes during the period were partly offset by stronger sales in its convenience retail operations. The portfolio is being sold by Cushman & Wakefield's Queensland-based Daniel Cullinane. Area 53 deal Known as Area 53, the 6.5-hectare site dedicated to life science and innovations in Sydney's north has been bought by joint-venture partners Wentworth Capital and BlackRock for $200 million. The property at 5-11 and 14 Julius Avenue, North Ryde, was the former home to CSIRO for nearly 60 years and other government tenants and is located within the Macquarie Park Innovation district, which is home to medical/pharma businesses including AstraZeneca and Cochlear. It comprises 12,000 square meters of purpose-built laboratory space alongside 40,000 square meters of surplus developable land. There is a 95 per cent occupancy of which government tenants account for 70 per cent of rental income.
