Ad-hoc | 5 March 2009 21:55
STRATEC Biomedical Systems AG / Final Results/Preliminary Results Release of an Ad hoc announcement according to § 15 WpHG, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- STRATEC presents preliminary figures for 2008 financial year Birkenfeld, March 5, 2009 STRATEC Biomedical Systems AG (FSE: SBS; Prime Standard Segment) hereby announces the preliminary unaudited consolidated figures of the STRATEC Group for the 2008 financial year pursuant to IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) and in accordance with Section 15 of the German Securities Trading Act (WpHG).Key Figures (EUR 000s) 2008 2007 Change Sales 60,971 67,527 - 9.7% Gross performance 67,646 69,679 - 2.9% EBITDA 13,510 16,586 - 18.5% EBIT 11,225 14,316 - 21.6% EBT * 9,387 * 14,517 - 35.3% Consolidated net income * 6,131 * 9,991 - 38.6% Earnings per share (EUR) * 0.54 * 0.88 - 38.6%* includes one-off non-operating expense of around Euro 2.1 million due to a fair value adjustment. Adjusted to exclude this item, 'Earnings per share' would amount to Euro 0.72, 'Consolidated net income' to Euro 8.2 million and 'EBT' (Earnings before taxes) to Euro 11.5 million. Including temporary employees, the STRATEC Group had a total of 284 employees as of December 31, 2008 (previous year: 270). The calculation of the key 'earnings per share' figure for the 2008 financial year is based on a weighted number of shares amounting to 11,387,716. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Information and Explaination of the Issuer to this News: STRATEC Biomedical Systems AG achieved its forecasted targets for the 2008 financial year, namely sales of Euro 60.0 million and forecasted earnings of Euro 11.5 million - following adjustment for a one-off non-operating item due to the adjustment now necessary in the valuation of the shareholding held in CyBio by around Euro 2.1 million. STRATEC's customers have planned four market launches of new analyzer systems for the 2009 and 2010 financial years. These will take place at different dates depending on the region and approval requirements involved. The systems are currently in highly advanced, labor-intensive stages of development. To do justice to these requirements and to be able to closely accompany other customers' plans for a potential market entry into the field of molecular diagnostics, the STRATEC Group further increased the number of its employees in the 2008 financial year. The decline in sales by around 9.7% was due to the absence of system call-ups by one major customer, a factor which could only be offset to a limited extent by other customer orders. It should be noted in this respect that, due to sales growth with other customers, the company has further reduced its dependence on individual customers. Potential fluctuations in individual system sales can therefore be expected to have a less marked impact on STRATEC's overall figures. Given its high equity ratio of around 71%, its high stock of liquidity and the fact that its balance sheet is free of net debt, STRATEC is ideally positioned to safeguard the phase of rapid growth expected in the next two years, as well as to exploit potential opportunities for external growth. The current financial and economic crisis has not had any negative impact on new orders at STRATEC or on the call-up forecasts submitted by the company's partners. STRATEC's business performance is rather characterized by micro-cycles. These are reflected on the one hand by the relative performance of individual partners and customers and on the other hand by the market launch of new analyzer systems or launch of marketing activities for our products by our customers. Due to the launch of marketing activities for further products, this latter factor will have a clearly beneficial impact on STRATEC within the next two years. Irrespective of this, the global volume of blood donations, blood samples taken in preparation for operations, and tests to detect pathogens is on the increase. As a result, the demand for economical ways of evaluating these samples, and thus also for fully automated analyzer systems, is also growing constantly. An updated guidance for the 2009 financial year is expected to be published upon the announcement of the definitive figures for the 2008 financial year. We expect to enter a phase of substantial growth in the coming two years and should be able to quantify this in greater detail upon the announcement of these figures. Notes concerning the adjustment in the valuation of the shareholding held in CyBio: STRATEC held a 13.42% stake in CyBio AG as of December 31, 2008. Taken together with the posting of a Supervisory Board member, an overall assessment of the circumstances substantiated the assumption of the existence of significant influence pursuant to IAS 28.2 in conjunction with IAS 28.7 as of the reporting date on December 31, 2008. On February 20, 2009, Analytik Jena AG published a voluntary public takeover bid addressed to the shareholders in CyBio AG offering to acquire their shares in CyBio AG and subsequently gained control over CyBio AG on February 23, 2009. This circumstance has refuted the assumption referred to above and will be accounted for in the overall assessment upon the preparation of the consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2008 (subsequent event of retrospective relevance as of reporting date). This non-operating adjustment has reduced the net financial result for the 2008 financial year by around Euro 2.1 million. The refutation of the assumption of significant influence has not led to the measurement of the CyBio shareholding being converted to the equity method (updated cost) in STRATEC'S consolidated financial statements. The shares in CyBio AG are rather measured at fair value as of the reporting date in accordance with the 'assets available for sale' measurement category set out in IAS 39. As CyBio AG is publicly listed, the fair value is equivalent to the market value as of December 31, 2008. In this respect, the difference in value only has to be recognized through profit or loss pursuant to IAS 39.68 to the extent that the significant, ongoing shortfall in the share price in the 2008 financial year compared with the costs of acquisition is deemed to represent a permanent reduction in value. About STRATEC STRATEC Biomedical Systems AG (http://www.stratec-biomedical.de) designs and manufactures fully automated analyzer systems for its partners in the fields of clinical diagnostics and biotechnology. These partners market such systems, in general together with their own reagents, to laboratories, blood banks and research institutes around the world. The company develops its products on the basis of its own patented technologies. Shares in the company (ISIN: DE0007289001) are traded in the Prime Standard segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The STRATEC Group consists of the publicly listed parent company STRATEC Biomedical Systems AG and of subsidiaries and second-tier subsidiaries in Germany, the USA, the UK, Switzerland and Romania. Further information can be obtained from: STRATEC Biomedical Systems AG André Loy, Investor Relations Gewerbestr. 37, 75217 Birkenfeld Germany Phone: +49 7082 7916 190 Fax: +49 7082 7916 999 Email: ir@stratec-biomedical.de 05.03.2009 Financial News transmitted by DGAP ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Language: English Issuer: STRATEC Biomedical Systems AG Gewerbestraße 37 75217 Birkenfeld Deutschland Phone: +49 (0)7082 7916 0 Fax: +49 (0)7082 7916 999 E-mail: info@stratec-biomedical.de Internet: www.stratec-biomedical.de ISIN: DE0007289001 WKN: 728900 Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Stuttgart, München, Düsseldorf End of News DGAP News-Service ---------------------------------------------------------------------------