9th May 2018 12:33
LONDON (Alliance News) - Abcam PLC on Wednesday said it has ended plans to make an offer for Horizon Discovery Group PLC following the latter's release of its annual results and a management statement on Tuesday.
A week ago, life science e-commerce firm Abcam confirmed it had proposed a possible offer for Horizon at 181.00 pence per share, valuing Horizon at GBP270.0 million, which was rejected.
On Tuesday, gene modulation technology company Horizon reported a pretax loss of GBP14.3 million for 2017, compared to the 2016 figure at GBP12.5 million. The loss was higher despite revenue for the year growing to GBP36.5 million from GB24.1 million year on year.
The wider loss, Horizon said, was due to research & development costs nearly doubling to GBP11.9 million from GBP6.2 million as well as higher sales, marketing, & distribution costs.
Having considered this, Abcam said, as well as Horizon's statement it believed there is "little" strategic rationale for a combination, it has now decided not to make an offer for Horizon.
Abcam had previously said it believes Horizon to be "highly complementary" to its existing business.
Abcam shares were down 0.1% Wednesday at 1,241.00 pence each, with Horizon shares were 19% lower at 151.25p.
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