REGENSBURG, GERMANY--(Marketwire - May 27, 2010) - Geneart AG / GENEART AG: First Quarter
2010 processed and transmitted by Hugin AS. The issuer is solely
responsible for the content of this announcement.
- Net sales increase by about 13% to EUR 4.6M
- EBIT improves to EUR 79 thousand in the first Quarter (previous year:
EUR 9
thousand)
- Net sales and earnings developments are on schedule with budget for the
whole
business year
Regensburg, May 27, 2010 -- GENEART AG, global leader in gene
synthesis and
specialist in the field of Synthetic Biology, increased its net sales
during the
first quarter 2010 by about 13% from EUR 4.0M to EUR 4.6M compared
to the
previous year's reference period. EBITDA reached EUR 0.5M and thus
exceeded the
result of the first quarter 2009 by EUR 0.1M. Based on net sales, the
EBITDA
margin increased during the first three months from 9.8% to 11.7%. EBIT
reached
EUR 79 thousand during the first quarter (previous year: EUR 9
thousand). The
EBIT margin therefore increased from 0.2% to 1.7%.
Due to investments in Research & Development and the increase of the
automation
level over the last two years, production capacities have been
expanded and
production costs per unit were reduced further. Simultaneously,
these
investments resulted in higher budgeted depreciation and thus in
initially
higher fixed costs. Although material costs increased slightly in
absolute
figures during the first quarter, the cost of material ratio was
lowered
slightly from 24.0% to 22.0% compared to the previous year's reference
period
due to several mid-size orders, among other factors. Increased
utilization of
production capacities resulted in a decrease of the personnel cost ratio by
7.5
percentage points from 55.3% to 47.8% during the reporting period. The
ratio for
other operating expenses was reduced as well.
Approximately 87% of net sales were generated by the segment Custom
Gene
Synthesis & Services during the first quarter, and the remainder
by the
Downstream Services segment. 57% of total net sales were allocated to
Europe,
34% to North America, and 9% to the rest of the world.
GENEART continues to follow its long-term growth strategy in 2010.
However,
budgeting and forecasting for 2010 is impeded by a continually
challenging
economic environment and the cautious behavior of customers when placing
major
orders related thereto, as well as short-term purchasing attitudes.
Therefore
GENEART expects moderate business growth for the first six months of
2010. The
economic environment is expected to improve during the second half of the
year,
and the associated return to higher growth rates. On the earnings side,
GENEART
pursues further flexibilization of its cost structures and additional
reduction
of production costs per unit to be able to meet short-term demand
fluctuations.
Assuming an overall more normal economic situation during the second
half of
2010, GENEART expects net sales between EUR 18.5M and 19.5M and EBIT
between EUR
0.5M and EUR 0.6M for the current fiscal year.
For further inquiries, please contact:
Dr. Karoline Stürmer
GENEART AG
Josef-Engert-Str. 11
93053 Regensburg
Germany
Phone: (0)941-942 76-417
Fax: (0)941-942 76-711
ir@geneart.com
www.geneart.com
Frank Ostermair
Better Orange IR & HV AG
Haidelweg 48
81241 Munich
Germany
Phone: (0)89-8896906-10
Fax: (0)89-8896906-66
info@better-orange.de
www.better-orange.de
Legal Information:
This document may contain estimates, prognoses and opinions about company
plans
and objectives, products or services, future results, opinions about
these
results or opinions leading up to these results. All these projections
into the
future are subject to risk, uncertainty and unforeseeable change
outside the
control of the GENEART Group. Many factors may lead to actual results,
which
considerably deviate from the given projections for these results.
About GENEART AG:
In 2000 GENEART entered the Gene Synthesis market and has since
become the
global market leader. Today, the company is one of the leading
specialists in
the Synthetic Biology field. Experts at GENEART provide key technologies
for the
development and production of new therapeutics and vaccines. Customers also
take
advantage of GENEART services to customize enzyme attributes, such
as the
attributes of enzymes used as detergent additives, and to construct
bacteria,
which produce complex biopolymers or break down polymers, such as
synthetics,
petroleum components, etc. GENEART's service portfolio ranges from
the
optimization and production of synthetic genes according to DIN EN
ISO
9001:2008, to the generation of gene variants or complex gene libraries
and the
production of cell lines, to the development and production of DNA and
protein
based drug candidates. GENEART AG in Regensburg and its subsidiaries
GENEART
Inc. in Toronto (Canada) and GENEART Inc. in San Francisco (USA) employ
about
180 people. The company is listed on the German Stock Exchange since May
2006.
Since April 2010, the US-American Life Technologies Corporation, one
of the
leading biotechnology companies worldwide with 2009 revenues of USD
3.3B and
about 9,000 employees, is majority shareholder of GENEART AG.
[HUG#1419047]
--- End of Message ---
Geneart AG
Josef-Engert-Str.11 Regensburg Germany
ISIN: DE000A0JJ4L4;
Listed: Freiverkehr in Börse Stuttgart,
Freiverkehr in Börse Berlin,
Freiverkehr in Börse Düsseldorf,
Open Market (Freiverkehr) in Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse;
Q1 en: http://hugin.info/136633/R/1419047/369230.pdf
