1st Aug 2006 07:30
Tepnel Life Sciences PLC01 August 2006 1st August 2006 Tepnel Life Sciences PLC ('Tepnel' or 'the Company') Trading Update Tepnel (AIM: TED), the UK-based international Molecular Diagnostics and ResearchProducts & Services group, is pleased to announce the following trading updatefor the first half of 2006. Tepnel's results for the 6 months ended 30 June 2006 will reflect continuedstrong top line sales growth and a better than budgeted bottom line. Sales forthe first half of the year were £8.16m (unaudited) compared to £6.89m(unaudited) for the same period in 2005, indicating 18.4% sales growth. TheMolecular Diagnostics group recorded sales of £4.69m (2005: £4.01m) whileResearch Products & Services reported sales of £3.47m (2005: £2.88m). These muchimproved sales resulted in operating profit significantly ahead of previousforecasts when combined with improved margins and cost control. The overallresult for the first half of 2006 will show an operating profit beforeexceptional items of £45,000 compared to an operating loss of £391,000 for thesame period in 2005. Ben Matzilevich, CEO, stated "Our strategy has been to identify significantmolecular diagnostic and research product niche market opportunities and to takeleadership positions in these sectors. We are especially gratified to see that sales of our genomic products andservices have more than doubled in the first half of this year compared to thesame period last year. Molecular Diagnostic reagents for organ transplantationmonitoring (bone marrow, kidney, liver, heart, etc.) have increased sales by 40%from the same period. These are two important markets where we have investedresources and focused our energies and we are now seeing the benefits of thoseefforts with sales and profit growth. In all sectors we are competing with large global players and we have chosen tocompete by targeting superior products into selected regional markets focusingon highly specialized applications backed up by strong technical support. Ournew facilities in Scotland, where we are due to commence construction thismonth, will give us the laboratories we need to maintain our growth and expandour genomic and proteomic product lines. We believe that close attention to the bottom line and expanded sales andmarketing efforts into the USA plus our strong product pipeline will helpposition Tepnel for continued growth and improved profitability." About Tepnel Tepnel Life Sciences (TLS) is a UK based international biotechnology company.The Company has laboratories, manufacturing and operations in the USA, UK andFrance with 195 employees. TLS provides test kits, reagents and services to twohighly synergistic markets, these being Molecular Diagnostics and BiomedicalResearch. The company's strategy has been to identify high growth nicheopportunities within these multi-billion pound markets. TLS focuses on theseniche opportunities with internally developed products, patents, expertise andknow-how as well as strategic acquisitions, to develop a leadership positionwithin these defined market segments. Enquiries: Ben Matzilevich, Chief Executive Officer, Tepnel Life Sciences plc 0161 946 2200Mark Percy, Seymour Pierce Limited 0207 107 8000Richard Anderson, De Facto Communications Ltd 0207 861 3838 Seymour Pierce Limited ("Seymour Pierce"), which is regulated in the UnitedKingdom by the Financial Services Authority, is acting for Tepnel in relation tothe matters described in this announcement and is not advising any other person,and accordingly will not be responsible to anyone other than Tepnel forproviding the protections afforded to customers of Seymour Pierce or forproviding advice in relation to the matters described in this announcement. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
TED.L