ABC.L Regulatory News (ABC)

25 Oct 2006 07:01

ABCAM Plc25 October 2006 For immediate release 25 October 2006 ABCAM PLC ("Abcam" or "the Company") AGM Statement and Antibody Production Update Abcam plc (AIM: ABC), the rapidly growing company that markets antibodies via anonline catalogue, will hold its AGM at 10:30am today in Cambridge. At the AGM, the Company will give a positive update on current trading and alsogive details of plans to scale-up the in-house identification and production ofantibodies in line with the Company's strategy outlined at the time of flotationin November 2005. At today's AGM, David Cleevely, Abcam's Chairman, will say: "Trading in thecurrent year has begun extremely well, reflected by sales in the first quarterbeing up 44 per cent compared with the first quarter of last year, and grossmargins have been maintained. "I am particularly pleased that we have advanced our plans for the scaling-up ofthe in-house production of antibodies, which presents a major opportunity to addsignificant value to the Company. "Abcam has been steadily increasing its expertise in in-house productionresulting in the Company's own antibodies now contributing around 15% of theCompany's turnover. The gross margin on in-house produced antibodies issignificantly higher than that for antibodies sourced via suppliers and, inaddition, their exclusive ownership positions the Company to exploit anydiagnostic or therapeutic applications in the medium to long term. "In the Company's preliminary results issued on 5 September 2006, I mentionedthat we were investigating the most effective way of building up in-houseproduction. Our conclusion is that through the development of a 20,000 sq ftantibody characterisation and purification laboratory we will be able toidentify and produce in-house between 25,000 and 50,000 different antibodieswithin the next 6 years, equating to approximately £20m to £30m of additionalannual sales. By way of reference, the Company's sales in the year to 30 June2006 were £19.4m. "Funding for the new premises, which is planned to be located in leased premisesin the Cambridge area, will come from the Company's existing cash balances, with£3.5m being required for capital expenditure and up to a further £4.5m forworking capital. The new facility is expected to be profitable towards the endof calendar year 2008, and cash flow positive towards the end of calendar year2009. As a consequence, it is expected that the new facility will impactprojected profits after tax by some £0.2m to £0.3m in the current financialyear, and by between £0.8m and £1.0m in the following financial year. However,it is expected that these costs will be more than recovered in the following twoyears, with significant enhancements to profits in subsequent years. I lookforward to providing further details in due course. "In addition to building up the in-house production of antibodies we willcontinue to seek to acquire antibody product lines for sale either on anexclusive or non-exclusive basis in line with our strategy set out at the timeof flotation. "It is particularly pleasing that over the longer term this further developmentof our business model will both significantly increase the number of high grossmargin products in our catalogue and provide a platform to increase our salesinto the biotech and pharma sectors." For further information please contact: Abcam + 44 (0) 1223 696000Jonathan Milner, Chief Executive OfficerEddie Powell, Chief Financial Officerwww.abcam.com Buchanan Communications + 44 (0) 20 7466 5000Mark CourtMary-Jane Johnson Notes for editors About Abcam Abcam is a producer and distributor of research-grade antibodies headquarteredin Cambridge, UK, with a US office located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Abcamwas admitted to AIM in November 2005 and trades under the ticker symbol ABC.The Company produces and distributes its own and third party produced antibodiesto academic and commercial users throughout the world with product informationprovided and ordering available through the Company's website, www.Abcam.com.The antibodies are sold almost entirely under the Abcam brandname. The Company'svision is to build the largest online antibody resource in the world while alsoensuring that the antibodies are of high quality and commercially viable. Abcamnow has an online catalogue of 25,000 products, most of which are antibodies,from over 200 suppliers supported by up-to-date and detailed technical datasheets, which are created by the Company. The Company currently employs 100staff. About antibodies Antibodies are proteins produced by white blood cells in response to theintroduction of a foreign body known as an antigen. Antibodies, which have awide variety of uses in research, diagnostics and therapeutics, are used bybioscientists in research into disease and into the human genome, where they areused to mark and identify specific cells and other living matter. The number ofhuman antibodies of use in research is potentially greater than one million. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange