ABC.L Regulatory News (ABC)

7 Jun 2006 07:00

ABCAM Plc07 June 2006 For immediate release 7 June 2006 ABCAM PLC ("Abcam" or "the Company") Trading Update Abcam plc (AIM: ABC), a rapidly growing company that markets antibodies via anonline catalogue, today provides a trading update for the year ending 30 June2006 ahead of its preliminary results, which are expected to be announced inearly September 2006. At the time of the Company's admission to AIM in November 2005 the Directorsstated that they expected the Company to achieve sales of no less than £18.5million for the year ending 30 June 2006. In the period since the Company'sinterim results were announced on 14 February 2006 trading has been strong,particularly in the US. Consequently, the Directors now expect sales for theyear ending 30 June 2006 to be approximately £19.4 million (2005: £12.1million). Given this strong sales performance and the Company's continued focus on margincontrol, the Directors expect pre-tax profits for the year ending 30 June 2006,subject to any unforeseen audit adjustments, to be ahead of market expectations. Abcam now has more than 22,500 products in its online catalogue, compared withmore than 17,000 at the time of admission to AIM. The Company's key prioritiescontinue to be the development of the catalogue and maintaining margins in acompetitive market. In line with these priorities the Directors continue toreview product line acquisitions along with other opportunities to increase therate at which in-house developed antibodies can be added to the catalogue. Also, the Company has incorporated a subsidiary in Japan to enable it to beginto promote the sale of its products effectively in that market. Jonathan Milner, Abcam's Chief Executive Officer, said: "We are pleased with thecontinued strong performance at Abcam but recognise that we operate in acompetitive market. We continue to invest in new products, improved systems andinternational expansion, particularly in the Japanese market." For further information please contact: Abcam + 44 (0) 1223 696000 Jonathan Milner, Chief Executive OfficerEddie Powell, Chief Financial Officerwww.abcam.com Buchanan Communications + 44 (0) 20 7466 5000 Mark 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. TheCompany produces and distributes its own and third party produced antibodies toacademic 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 brand name. TheCompany's vision is to build the largest online antibody resource in the worldwhile also ensuring that the antibodies are of high quality and commerciallyviable. Abcam now has an online catalogue of more than 22,500 products, most ofwhich are antibodies, from a wide range of suppliers supported by up-to-date anddetailed technical data sheets, which are created by the Company. The Companycurrently employs 100 staff. The Company was founded by Dr Jonathan Milner (CEO), Dr David Cleevely(Chairman) and Professor Tony Kouzarides (non-executive director) in February1998. Abcam was established with funding provided by friends and family of thefounders and business angels. Since establishment, the Company has grownsignificantly, driven by the increased availability and use of the internet andthe expansion of the Company's product base, which in part is due to the rapidgrowth in the number of protein targets derived from the human genome project.In 2004, Abcam was ranked by Deloitte as the 11th fastest growing technologycompany in Europe. In April 2005 it was awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise. The Companyreported its first profit in the financial year ended 30 June 2003. In April2005 the Company moved its headquarters to larger premises in Cambridge, UK andits US subsidiary to larger premises in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 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