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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