REGENSBURG, GERMANY--(Marketwire - February 23, 2010) -
Geneart AG / GENEART Publishes Preliminary Results for 2009 processed and transmitted by Hugin AS. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
* Net sales increase by 20.7 % to EUR 4.8M in the fourth quarter compared to the same period of the previous year, and to EUR 17.2M for the entire year 2009
* EBIT increases to EUR 0.28M in the fourth quarter and totals EUR 0.33M for the entire year
* For the first time GENEART generates a positive free cash flow of EUR 1.2M in 2009 and increases liquidity to EUR 7.8M
Regensburg, February 23, 2010 - GENEART AG, global leader in gene synthesis
and
specialist in the field of Synthetic Biology, increased its net sales by
9.6 %
in 2009 in a continuing difficult economic environment, and therefore
slightly
exceeded sales prognoses published in the third quarter report. Net sales
totaled EUR 17.2M after EUR 15.7M in the previous year. The cautious market
behavior with respect to placing major orders, which could be observed
since the
fourth quarter 2008, was still being noted at an almost unchanged level in
2009
and curbed net sales growth. The growth of small and medium-sized orders
was
further increased compared to the previous year, and thus, partially
compensated
for the loss of major contracts.
GENEART increased net sales slightly in all quarters compared to the respective previous year's quarter despite the challenging environment in 2009. In particular the fourth quarter showed very positive developments. Compared to the same period in the prior year net sales increased by 20.7 % to EUR 4.8M (previous year: EUR 4,0M). Empirically the fourth quarter is affected by a significant seasonal year-end effect.
The fourth quarter EBIT increased from EUR -0.58M in the previous year to EUR 0.28M in 2009, and reached EUR 0.33M for the entire year (previous year: EUR 0.82M). Cash flow development was positive. For the first time in its history GENEART generated a positive annual free cash flow of EUR 1.2M (previous year: EUR -2.0M). The purchase of covered bearer bonds totalling EUR 2.0M is not considered an investment under business aspects but is included in liquidity - comprised of cash, bank balances and securities. Liquidity in 2009 increased from EUR 6.8M to EUR 7.8M.
Thus in 2009 GENEART succeeded again to increase productivity by its consequent advancements in automation. The output per employee increased by over 50 % at significantly reduced production costs per gene. In addition, GENEART achieved further advances in the scalability of key technologies, and thereby created the basis to be able to react quickly and flexibly to demand increases in the future. GENEART utilized the cost advantages attained to further increase its market share compared to the remaining competitors. Furthermore, GENEART started to gradually automate processes in the areas of sales and production preparation. With the implementation of the next development stage at the end of 2010 increases in efficiencies will be noticeable through exploitation of economies of scale in these areas as well.
The launch of a service unit for the generation of cell lines and protein production in mammalian cells (product area Cell Lines & Proteins) in 2009 complemented GENEART's service portfolio for basic research and pharmaceutical development customers. The new service unit will contribute to lifting additional cross-selling potentials in 2010. GENEART expects additional growth stimuli from the emerging market of Synthetic Biology. With gene synthesis the company holds one of the key technologies for this new market segment and offers additional technologies and services for downstream processes in the value chain through the product area Directed Evolution, which are immediately required for the development of market-ready applications in Synthetic Biology.
In this positive context, GENEART adheres in 2010 as well to the long-term growth strategy. However, planning and prognosis for 2010 is impeded by a continuing challenging economic environment, and thus, by a cautious behaviour of customers placing major orders as well as by short-term purchasing attitudes. Due to the strong business at year-end and the seasonal effect, only slight growth is to be expected for the first quarter in 2010 compared to the same period of the previous year. GENEART will provide an outlook for the entire year 2010 with the publication of the final 2009 numbers on April 29.
For further inquiries, please contact: Dr. Karoline Stürmer GENEART AG Josef-Engert-Str. 11 93053 Regensburg Germany Phone: +49-(0)941-942 76-417 Fax: +49-(0)941-942 76-711 ir@geneart.com www.geneart.com Frank Ostermair Better Orange IR & HV AG Haidelweg 48 81241 Munich Germany Phone: +49-(0)89-8896906-10 Fax: +49-(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.
[HUG#1387205]
GENEART Publishes Preliminary Results for 2009:
http://hugin.info/136633/R/1387205/345588.pdf
