Just a brief attempt to explain why we have seen such a great share price performance recently.

In general, the stock has been benefiting from the new CEO who was appointed in March (http://www.evotec.com/uploads/cms_articl... He implemented a new strategy including [taken from their homepage]

- Strengthen discovery alliances business
- Refocus pipeline on most valuable assets
- Build strategic alliances on more projects available
- Significant reduction of operating expenses and strategic risks

It also seems that the new CEO is a well reputated man in the biotech sector and - as a side note - he also bought some 400k Evotec shares for his personal account since he was appointed. Some further information in their 2Q09 pack: http://www.evotec.com/uploads/media_libr...


Furthermore, during the last few days, Evotec gained IMHO due to some good news flow:

i) A major shareholder reported that he increased its stake to above 10% while additionally stating that "the purchase of the stocks pursues strategic objectives. Dependent on the development of the stock price it is intended to obtain further voting rights within the next 12 months either by purchase or in another manner."
Source: http://www.evotec.com/display/archiveDet...

ii) A milestone payment
http://www.evotec.com/display/archiveDet...

iii) Due to a pending takeover of one index constituent, Evotec will presumably join the 'TecDax' ("the German Nasdaq index") which might be announced as early as next week, with the result of higher investor attention and potential buying from funds/passive index trackers.


Just some thoughts....