GENEART AG Publishes Financial Result for the 1st Quarter 2009
- Net sales of EUR 4.0M slightly exceed previous year's figures
- Slightly positive result realized
- Expectations for 2009 remain unchanged
Regensburg, May 28, 2009 - GENEART AG, global leader in gene
synthesis and specialist in the field of Synthetic Biology, started
with robust net sales into the year 2009. The moderate increase in
net sales from EUR 3.9M (Q1 2008) to EUR 4.0M (Q1 2009) during the
1st Quarter was within the limits of the company's expectations.
During the 1st Quarter of 2009, the gene synthesis market was
characterized by the cautious behavior of the pharmaceutical, biotech
and chemical industries when placing major orders - in particular due
to the current difficult economic environment worldwide. In addition,
a significantly more short-term purchasing behavior could be observed
compared to the previous year. In this context, the company's
increased sales and marketing efforts definitely need to be viewed as
very effective, since GENEART AG succeeded in more than compensating
for the major order by the NIH (U.S. American National Institutes of
Health), which significantly affected net sales during the first nine
months of 2008, with a large number of small and medium-sized
contracts. Thus, GENEART significantly broadened its customer
structure and therefore - in its opinion - affirmed or even extended
its market share in gene synthesis worldwide over the 1st Quarter.
GENEART closed the first three months with slightly positive result.
The Group's EBIT reached EUR 9 thousand in the 1st Quarter compared
to EUR 475 thousand during the previous year's reference quarter.
GENEART's consolidated net profit of this period developed
analogously to its EBIT. The slightly positive net profit reached
EUR 1 thousand after the first three months of the current fiscal
year. The profit situation was strained by temporarily higher
material costs due to an unexpected and significant price increase
for acetonitrile, a raw material currently still needed. In addition,
the result was negatively affected by higher fixed costs due to
increased depreciation and personnel shifts to more qualified areas,
as well as increased other operating costs due to higher consultancy
fees. Exchange rate effects influenced the result positively. Most
notably, however, GENEART succeeded in further reducing its
production costs per unit. The substitution of acetonitrile proceeds
as planned - GENEART expects at this time that material costs will
return to normal levels as of mid-year. This - in combination with
additional cost cutting measures already initiated - provides a good
basis to increase margins again significantly, when net sales numbers
grow.
Due to a market situation which is affected considerably by economic
trends, and the company's current order entry status, GENEART expects
net sales to be at least at previous year's level of EUR 16M for
2009. If the anticipated catch-up effects occur in the second half of
the year, net sales between EUR 17M and EUR 18M can be expected for
2009, with a positive EBIT for the full year. Depending on the
economic situation, it is expected to generate sustainable profits
again for 2010, which will continue GENEART's successful growth as
market leader in the field of gene synthesis.
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. Our production and
service spectrum spans a wide range, from the production of synthetic
genes according to DIN EN ISO 9001:2000, to the creation of gene
libraries in the combinatorial biology, to the development and
production of DNA-based biologically active substances. GENEART AG in
Regensburg (Germany) and the subsidiaries GENEART Inc. in Toronto
(Canada) and GENEART Inc. in San Francisco (USA) employ more than 190
people. GENEART is listed on the German Stock Exchange.
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