Corporate | 29 October 2003 07:29

MorphoSys AG english

MorphoSys Reports Third Quarter 2003 Results Corporate-news announcement sent by DGAP. The sender is solely responsible for the contents of this announcement. ——————————————————————————– MorphoSys Reports Third Quarter 2003 Results MorphoSys AG (Prime Standard, Germany: MOR) today reported financial results for its third quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2003. For the first nine months of 2003, MorphoSys generated cumulative revenues of EUR 10.9 million compared to EUR 12.4 million in the same period of the previous year. In the third quarter of 2003, Company revenues amounted to EUR 3.6 million, compared to EUR 3.7 million in the same quarter of 2002. Total operating expenses including stock-based compensation for the first nine months of 2003 decreased to EUR 16.3 million (2002: EUR 30.0 million), resulting in an operating loss of EUR 5.4 million (2002: EUR 17.5 million), a decrease of 69% over the same period of the prior year. The decrease in expenses was primarily attributable to the successful impact of the Company’s restructuring efforts in addition to settlement and licensing agreements signed in 2002. Research and Development costs decreased by 30% to EUR 8.5 million from EUR 12.2 million, Sales, General & Administrative expenses decreased by 57% from EUR 14.3 million to EUR 6.2 million, and stock-based compensation decreased by 53% from EUR 3.4 million to EUR 1.6 million. Amortization of intangibles and depreciation amounted to EUR 1.1 million (2002: EUR 0.9 million), and EUR 0.6 million (2002: EUR 0.7 million), respectively, for the first nine months of 2003. For the first nine months of 2003, the Company posted a net loss of EUR 6.7 million compared to EUR 16.5 million in the same period of the previous year, a decrease over the prior year of 59%. The resulting loss per share for the first nine months of 2003 amounted to EUR 1.60 (nine months 2002: EUR 4.23). On September 30, 2003 the Company had EUR 17.8 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, compared to a EUR 19.1 million balance at December 31, 2002. The number of outstanding shares at September 30, 2003 was 4,841,570 shares, compared to 3,889,944 at December 31, 2002. Highlights of the third quarter 2003: – Promising animal data from preclinical studies for MOR101 and MOR102 was presented at the “Human Antibodies & Hybridomas Conference” in Osaka (Japan). – An antibody developed by MorphoSys against an oncological target from Schering showed promising results in in vitro assays for efficacy as well as in animal models. – A third milestone in the therapeutic antibody collaboration with Centocor was reached. The milestone involved the delivery of antibodies against an undisclosed Centocor target involved in inflammatory diseases. – 588,160 new shares were issued to Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT) fulfilling MorphoSys’ obligation under the two companies’ settlement agreement from 2002. – XOMA successfully cleared their stake of 363,466 shares in MorphoSys arising from the two companies’ cross-licensing and settlement agreement in 2002. “We are very encouraged by the promising research and preclinical data for not only our proprietary antibody programs, but also our partnered antibody programs”, commented Dave Lemus, Chief Financial Officer of MorphoSys AG. “We remain committed to building value for our shareholders by focusing on building a broad pipeline of therapeutic antibody candidates for our own and our partners accounts.” The Management of MorphoSys will hold a public conference call today at 10:00 CET to present the financial results of the third quarter 2003. Dial-in number for the Conference Call (listen-only): +49 69 22223 105 About MorphoSys: MorphoSys develops and applies innovative technologies for the production of synthetic antibodies, which accelerate drug discovery and target characterization. Founded in 1992, the Company’s proprietary Human Combinatorial Antibody Library (HuCALâ) technology is used by researchers worldwide for human antibody generation. The Company currently has licensing and research collaborations with Bayer (Berkeley, California/USA), Biogen Inc. (Cambridge, Massachusetts/USA), Boehringer Ingelheim (Ingelheim, Germany), Bristol-Myers Squibb (Wilmington, Delaware/USA), Centocor Inc. (Malvern, Pennsylvania/USA), California/USA), GPC Biotech AG (Munich/Germany), Hoffmann-La Roche AG (Basel/Switzerland), ImmunoGen Inc. (Cambridge, Massachusetts/USA), Oridis Biomed GmbH (Graz/Austria), ProChon Biotech Ltd. (Rehovot/Israel), Schering AG (Berlin/Germany) and Xoma Ltd. (Berkeley, California/USA). For further information please visit the corporate website at: http://www.morphosys.com/ . For more information, please contact MorphoSys: Dr. Claudia Gutjahr-Löser, Manager Corporate Communications, Tel. +49 (0)89 89927 122, gutjahr@morphosys.com end of message, (c)DGAP 29.10.2003 ——————————————————————————– WKN: 663200; ISIN: DE0006632003; Index: Nemax 50 Listed: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin- Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover, München und Stuttgart 290729 Okt 03