Year-end report January-December 2016

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Fourth quarter, October – December 2016

  • Net sales amounted to 179.1 MSEK (168.5), an increase by 6.3 percent compared to the corresponding quarter last year. At comparable exchange rates sales increased by 0.9 percent.
  • Operating profit increased by 19 percent to 24.1 MSEK (20.2).
  • Result after tax amounted to 17.5 MSEK (20.7). The decrease is due to the financial net for the quarter of -5.9 MSEK (-0.7) primarily attributable to the result of currency hedging transactions.
  • Earnings per share were 0.27 SEK (0.32) before and after dilution.
  • The cash flow from operating activities amounted to 42.4 MSEK (33.3).
  • Net cash at December 31 amounted to 128.6 MSEK (134.9), compared to 101.3 MSEK at September 30.
  • At the end of the reported period Biotage had no holding of own shares. No shares have been acquired under the repurchasing program resolved at the 2016 Annual General Meeting

Full year January – December 2016

  • Net sales amounted to 667.9 MSEK (610.5), an increase by 9.4 percent compared to the corresponding period last year. At comparable exchange rates net sales increased by 7.8 percent. 
  • Operating profit increased by 33 percent to 99.1 MSEK (74.8).
  • Result after tax amounted to 92.8 MSEK (73.3).
  • Earnings per share were 1.43 SEK (1.13) before and after dilution.
  • The cash flow from operating activities amounted to 139.1 MSEK (120.1).
  • In September Biotage invested 19.3 MSEK in the development of products for purification of biomolecules by acquiring shares corresponding to 22 percent of Chreto Aps.
  • The shareholder dividend paid in May amounted to 80.9 MSEK (48.5).  
  • The board intends to propose to the Annual General Meeting that dividends to the shareholders are paid to the amount of 1.25 SEK (1.25) per share for 2016. According to the dividend policy Biotage should distribute at least 50 percent of the net profit.

Comments by CEO Torben Jörgensen
It is with satisfaction that I report record sales for the quarter as well as the full year. The sales amounted to 179 MSEK in the quarter and 668 MSEK in the full year. We meet the financial goal of 8 percent sales growth and exceed the goal for operating margin (EBIT) of 10 percent with a good margin. With the achieved sales growth Biotage is growing considerably faster than the underlying markets. We continue to show a solid earning capacity at the same time as the business is growing. For 2016 we achieve an operating profit (EBIT) of 99 MSEK, an increase by 33 percent. Over a ten-year period Biotage has improved EBIT with an average of 25 percent per year. The operating activities generated a cash flow of 139 MSEK in 2016, which is 19 MSEK more than last year.

All regions where we have direct sales grew in the quarter and the full year. China shows the single biggest sales increase with 28 percent during 2016. During the last quarter of the year we started direct sales in South Korea according to plan. We have a good team in place and look forward to a return on this investment already in 2017. We are planning for direct sales in more countries where we see a considerable market potential and where distributor sales have not met our expectations.

Our investments in research and development in recent years have generated a number of new successful products. The share of Biotage’s sales relating to products launched in the last three years has increased continuously and now amount to 20 percent.

In 2016 the product area Purification within Organic Chemistry developed especially well. The successes can to a large extent be attributed to the launch of the evaporation system Biotage®V-10 Touch. Also the sales of the purification system Isolera™ exceeded our expectations. The positive development for consumables in Analytical Chemistry continues. It is still in the American market that we see the biggest growth. In 2017 we will add additional personnel resources in Analytical Chemistry and more application laboratories in Europe, Japan and the US. The investment in biomolecules as a new product area was started in earnest in 2016. In December we launched our first consumables for purification of peptides and other large molecules. Earlier in the year we invested in the Danish protein purification company Chreto.

System sales accounted for 45 percent of the sales and aftermarket products for 55 percent in 2016. The main reason why we have not been able to get closer to our strategic distribution goal of 40/60 is the success in China, where we practically only sell systems.

The efficiency at the production plant in Cardiff, Wales is improving, as a result of larger production volumes as well as focused work for a higher degree of automation of the production. Together with a weaker GBP this has contributed to raising the gross margin for the quarter to above 59 percent.

All in all, 2016 was a fantastic year with varying financial situations in the markets where we operate. I am convinced that also 2017 will be an exciting year. We are well prepared and I look forward to the new year with confidence.

  
For further information, please contact:

Torben Jörgensen, President and CEO, phone: +46 707 49 05 84
 
Erika Söderberg Johnson, CFO, phone: +46 707 20 48 20

  
This information is information that Biotage AB (publ) is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation and the Securities Markets Act. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact persons set out above, at 08.30 CET on February 9, 2017.

About Biotage
Biotage offers efficient separation technologies from analysis to industrial scale and high quality solutions for analytical chemistry from research to commercial analysis laboratories. Biotage’s products are used by government authorities, academic institutions, pharmaceutical and food companies, among others. The company is headquartered in Uppsala and has offices in the US, UK, China, Japan and South Korea. Biotage has approx. 325 employees and had sales of 668 MSEK in 2016. Biotage is listed on the NASDAQ OMX Stockholm stock exchange. Website:
www.biotage.com

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