English

Interim report January - March 2012

Report this content

First quarter 2012

  •     Group net sales increased by 12 percent to 119.6 MSEK (107.2). At comparable exchange rates sales increased by 8 percent.
  •     The operating result amounted to 8.6 MSEK (2.6).
  •     The result after tax amounted to 7.9 MSEK (1.5).
  •     Earnings per share amounted to 0.11 SEK (0.02).
  •     The cash flow from operating activities amounted to 10.2 MSEK (32.7).
  •     Net cash at March 31 amounted to 179.4 MSEK, compared to 198.4 MSEK at December 31, 2011.

Comments by CEO Torben Jörgensen
The start of the year has been good. We show good growth with a sales increase of 12 percent in the quarter and we bring a strong inflow of orders into the second quarter. The organic growth is 8 percent compared to the corresponding period 2011, calculated at comparable exchange rates. We had sales amounting to 119.6 MSEK, compared with 107.2 MSEK the first quarter 2011. The Group reports an operating result of 8.6 MSEK despite an unfavorable exchange rate development that led to a negative translation effect for foreign assets to the amount of 3.4 MSEK.

The US was the biggest single market with 35 percent of the net sales. The EU area contributed 32, Japan 21, China 6 and the rest of the world 6 percent of the net sales. The EU area achieved a good first quarter compared to last year, with good growth above all in analytical chemistry. The sales in the US have been satisfactory during the quarter, with primarily the product areas purification and Sample Prep showing growth. We are especially pleased that the purification sales have recovered in the US, where we for a period have been losing market shares. The Japanese market continues to develop well and we once again see a strong first quarter in this region.

Our initiative to build or own representation in China is off to a good start and we have high hopes that we will strengthen our market position in this important market. Sales in other parts of the world where we do not have direct representation vary. We continuously evaluate alternative solutions to strengthen our sales also in these markets. The lack of sales successes is partly due to the general financial climate, where not least funding of academic research plays a part. In spite of this I believe that we have good opportunities to further develop our indirect sales channels, above all in the growing Indian market.

To sum up, the efforts in analytical chemistry, above all Sample Prep, have given us new customer groups for sale of Biotage’s products. At the same time we continue to develop our product offerings to customers in organic chemistry. At the end of last year we launched a number of new products that have contributed to the good sales development in this quarter. At the beginning of the year we have also carried out well received launches of both instruments and consumables. It is important for Biotage to achieve a good balance between the different customer groups, as this not only improves the opportunities for growth but also levels peaks and dips in the more capital intensive and pharma industry dependent product offering in organic chemistry.

The launches of consumables in organic chemistry carried out in the first quarter have, together with the initiative in analytical chemistry, meant that we continue to increase the relative share of consumables in our sales. Taken together, consumables and service now account for 58 percent of our sales, compared to 57 percent in 2011.

The new focus on purification and separation projects in production scale is still under development. We have a positive view of the development potential of these operations and we have now started deliveries to a customer in Asia of polymer used in regular industry production.

In the second quarter our plant in Lund for the production of polymer raw materials for analytical chemistry and pilot scale will be completed.

Biotage continues to have a strong financial position with net cash at March 31 2012 amounting to 179.4 MSEK (198.4 MSEK at the end of 2011). During the quarter the company repurchased 3.1 million own shares for a total of 20.5 MSEK.

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 15.00 on April 26, 2012.

About Biotage
Biotage offers solutions, knowledge and experience in the areas of analytical chemistry and medicinal chemistry. The customers include the world’s largest pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and leading academic institutes. The company is headquartered in Uppsala and has offices in the US, UK, China and Japan. Biotage has about 270 employees and had sales of 428.1 MSEK in 2011. Biotage is listed on the NASDAQ OMX Nordic Stockholm stock exchange. Website: www.biotage.com

Documents & Links