Year-end report for 2012

Fourth quarter October - December 2012     

• Group net sales in the fourth quarter 2012 amounted to 113.9 MSEK (116.0), a 1.8 percent decrease. At comparable exchange rates the sales increased by 1.5 percent compared to the corresponding quarter 2011.
• Operating profit for the quarter amounted to 13.5 MSEK (9.8).
• The result after tax amounted to 13.6 MSEK (17.2).
• Earnings per share amounted to 0.19 SEK (0.22).
• The cash flow from operating activities amounted to 29.9 MSEK (33.2).
• Net cash at December 31 amounted to 165.4 MSEK, compared to 157.0 MSEK at September 30.
• During the quarter 1,371,175 own shares were acquired within the framework of the share repurchasing program resolved at the Annual General Meeting 2012. At the balance sheet date December 31, 2012 Biotage held a total of 1,782,906 own shares, acquired for 14,738 KSEK at an average acquisition value of 8.27 SEK per share.
• After the end of the reported period an additional 1,523,369 own shares have been acquired where after Biotage holds a total of 3,306,275 own shares.

Full year January – December 2012

• Group net sales in 2012 increased by 8 percent to 462.9 MSEK (428.4). At comparable exchange rates sales increased by 6 percent.
• Operating profit amounted to 43.8 MSEK (25.1).
• The result after tax amounted to 38.3 MSEK (32.5).
• Earnings per share amounted to 0.52 SEK (0.42).
• The cash flow from operating activities amounted to 67.5 MSEK (94.8).
• Net cash at December 31 amounted to 165.4 MSEK, compared to 198.4 MSEK at December 31, 2011.
• In 2012 dividends to the shareholders were paid to the amount of 29.3 MSEK (19.9).
• A raise of the dividends to shareholders to 0.50 SEK (0.40) per share is proposed.
• The Board of Directors has established a dividend policy according to which Biotage shall distribute at least 50 percent of the net profit as dividend

Comments by CEO Torben Jörgensen
2012 has been a good year for Biotage with strong sales growth and a considerably improved result. We increased our sales by 8 percent to 463 MSEK and our operating result by 75 percent to 44 MSEK. The great improvement of the result during the year is among other things due to the fact that we have increased the gross margin with more than one percentage at the same time as the sales costs ratio has decreased by more than two percentages. The administrative costs in relation to sales have also decreased.

During the year we achieved a number of important targets in our operations. Among other things we increased the sales of aftermarket products, which accounted for 59 percent of Biotage’s total sales in 2012. This is close to our strategic goal of 60 percent. We have also achieved a better balance between the areas of organic and analytical chemistry, which makes us less dependent on the development of the pharma industry. The long-term goal is that these two areas should contribute approximately equally to sales. In 2012 analytical chemistry reached a 43 percent share of our total sales.

During the year we invested in our market organization and strengthened our sales force in the US, Europe and China. China, together with Japan, was the strongest developing market in 2012. Even though China still remains a relatively small market for us it has great future potential. Europe was the best region in terms of sales in the fourth quarter.

However, the year’s last quarter did not end totally as we expected. We saw an increasingly hesitant market in general and the sales increase slowed down, primarily concerning instruments and above all in the US and India. We have not been willing to lower our prices more than extremely selectively. This has to some extent affected our sales, but it has also contributed to a gross margin of no less than 59.8 percent in the last quarter. Despite this slow-down we exit the last quarter with an 11.9 percent operating margin.

The product area purification has the biggest sales overall. It is therefore pleasing that this area showed a positive development, in the full year as well as in the last quarter. We have gained market shares above all in the US. A strengthened product offering through an updated version of our purification instrument Isolera and new consumables are contributing factors to these successes.

The product area synthesis did not develop equally well in 2012. We believe that the sales growth for our synthesis instruments, which are primarily used in the development of pharmaceuticals based on small molecules, will remain limited also in the future. For this reason we are investigating several alternative application areas for our microwave technology. One good such example is our peptide synthesis products, which have healthy growth.

Biotage also continues to show good sales growth in consumables for analytical chemistry. We maintain a high pace in the development of new applications, which is a decisive factor for success.

One area where we are making investments for the future is the one today called Industrial Resins, previously called process chemistry. Briefly described, these operations concern the large scale removal of unwanted substances such as pesticides and genotoxins from foodstuffs and pharmaceuticals. The operations are so far carried out in laboratory or pilot scale. In 2012 we completed our plant in Lund, which gives us increased capacity and flexibility in the production of polymers.

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 08.00 on February 12, 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, companies within the food industry and leading academic institutes. 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