3rd Oct 2005 07:41
BTG PLC03 October 2005 BTG plc: Close Period Update and sale of RFID patents London, UK, 3 October 2005: BTG plc (LSE: BGC), the medical innovations company,has entered a close period and announces the following update for the half yearended 30 September 2005. BTG also today announces the sale of certain RadioFrequency ID (RFID) patents. The Group's performance during the first half was in line with the Board'sexpectations. First half revenues benefited from the settlement reached withZimmer Holdings, Inc. in relation to the two-part hip cup litigation, whichresulted in a gross payment to BTG of $17.4 million, and from the settlementwith Netflix in relation to the WebNav patents. A significant contributor to first-half revenue, announced today, is the sale ofRFID patents and technology rights to Zebra Technologies, and the grant of anoption to Zebra to acquire additional RFID patents, for an initial payment of$5.5 million gross. BTG will receive additional payments if Zebra exercises itsoption and on satisfaction of certain conditions relating to the assignedpatents. These new sources of revenue add to the royalties from launched products wheregrowth is anticipated to be in line with recent historical growth of over 10%. Operating and administrative expenses have reduced following the restructuringand the Group is on track to achieve savings of at least £6.5 million over thefull year as planned. The full Interim Results will be published on 10 November 2005. Prior topublication of the full Interim Results, BTG will issue an update on the impactof reporting its results in accordance with the International FinancialReporting Standards. - Ends - Enquiries: BTG Financial Dynamics Andy Burrows, Director of Investor Relations Ben Atwell +44 (0)20 7575 1741 +44 (0)20 7831 3113 About BTG BTG acquires rights to early stage pharmaceuticals and other medicaltechnologies from a global network of corporations, universities and researchinstitutions. We apply resources including finance, intellectual property andproject management skills to fund and manage outsourced preclinical and clinicaldevelopment programmes. We then commercialise the technologies by licensing topharmaceutical or device companies, or by creating companies to exploit them.Our pipeline comprises around 50 assets at varying stages of development,contributing to an increasing range of products marketed by our licensees. BTGoperates from London, Philadelphia and Tokyo. For further information visit:www.btgplc.com. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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