Interim report for the period January - September 2013

Third quarter July – September 2013                                                    

• Group net sales in the third quarter 2013 decreased by 3 percent to 103.4 MSEK (107.1). At comparable exchange rates sales increased by 1 percent.
• Operating profit in the quarter amounted to 7.6 MSEK (8.9).
• The result after tax amounted to 6.9 MSEK (3.7).
• Earnings per share amounted to 0.10 SEK (0.05).
• The cash flow from operating activities amounted to 14.1 MSEK (12.2).
• Net cash at September 30 amounted to 80.5 MSEK, compared to 82.7 MSEK at June 30.

Nine month period January – September 2013                                                    

• Group net sales in the first nine months 2013 decreased by 7 percent to 323.0 MSEK (349.0). At comparable exchange rates sales decreased by 1 percent compared to the corresponding period last year.
• Operating profit in the nine month period amounted to 25.8 MSEK (30.3).
• The result after tax amounted to 22.9 MSEK (24.7).
• Earnings per share amounted to 0.34 SEK (0.34).
• The cash flow from operating activities excluding discontinued operations amounted to 36.4 MSEK (37.5).
• Net cash at September 30 amounted to 80.5 MSEK, compared to 165.4 MSEK at December 31, 2012.
• Dividends to shareholders were paid in May to the amount of 34.9 MSEK (29.3).
• At the end of the reported period Biotage had a holding of 4,398,685 own shares acquired under the repurchasing program decided at the 2013 Annual General Meeting.

Comments by CEO Torben Jörgensen

Continued budget restrictions and uncertainties regarding the future affect the willingness to invest among many of our customers. Not least does this apply to the academic world, particularly in the US, where the uncertain political situation contributes to the deteriorating business climate. Despite this, our underlying operations grew by one percent compared to the corresponding quarter last year.

The currency development continues to be unfavorable for Biotage, primarily the strong Swedish krona and a weak Japanese yen. A comparison of the sales reported in the quarter with the corresponding period last year shows a three percent decrease, but at comparable exchange rates the underlying business grew by one percent. The currency effect at a comparison of sales between the third quarters in 2012 and 2013 amounts to -4.5 MSEK and to no less than -24.1 MSEK for the nine month period.

Overall we see the weakest sales development in India and China. Otherwise the lack of sales growth is relatively evenly distributed between the various geographic regions.

On the positive side I note that we emerged from the quarter with a larger order book than normally, partly due to orders that had not yet been delivered at the end of the period, partly due to sales in countries where we only deliver against bank documents and where these documents were not in place at the end of the quarter.

During the period we have carried out a large number of demonstrations of our recently launched Flash and Mass detector instrument Isolera™ Dalton. The system is appreciated in the market and we are hopeful that we can translate the great interest into sales. We have also managed to win important customers for our consumables in the Purification product area. The strategically important product area Sample Prep grew in the quarter and contributes to an increase in the relative share of consumables in our sales. In the product area Industrial Resins we have closed an agreement concerning continued collaboration with one of our existing customers. The contract runs until the end of 2015 and concerns development work as well as deliveries of products for continued evaluation.

The operating margin amounts to 56.6 percent for the quarter as well as for the nine month period, and on a rolling 12 month basis we achieve 57.4 percent. During the quarter instrument sales contributed 41 percent of the sales and consumables 59 percent. On a rolling 12 month basis this relation is 42 and 58 percent, respectively.

The transfer of the production of the product lines TurboVap® och RapidTrace® from the contract manufacturer in the US to our own factory in Cardiff, Wales was successfully completed during the quarter. The transfer led to non-recurring costs to the amount of 0.5 MSEK in the quarter. Our intention is to further develop this production unit.

For further information, please contact:
Torben Jörgensen, President and CEO, phone: +46 707 49 05 84                  
Erika Söderberg Johnson, CFO, phone: +46 730 50 80 56

The information in this press release is of the kind that Biotage AB (publ) is required to make public according to the Financial Instruments Trading Act. The information was released for publication at 08.30 on October 25, 2013.

About Biotage
Biotage offers solutions, knowledge and experience in the areas of analytical chemistry, medicinal chemistry, separation and purification. The customers include pharmaceutical and biotech companies, food producers and leading academic institutions. The company is headquartered in Uppsala and has offices in the US, UK, China and Japan. Biotage has approx. 290 employees and had sales of 463 MSEK in 2012. Biotage is listed on the NASDAQ OMX Nordic Stockholm stock exchange. Website: www.biotage.com

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