ABC.L Regulatory News (ABC)

ABCAM PLC

("Abcam" or "the Company")

Pre-Close Trading Update

Abcam plc (AIM: ABC), a global leader in the supply of protein research and detection tools, announces the following pre-close trading update ahead of its results for the year ended 30 June 2011. 

The Board is pleased to report another successful trading period and it anticipates that profit before tax, and before costs incurred on the recent acquisition of MitoSciences, will be slightly ahead of current market expectations.

During the year we have also made further steps in our strategy to drive growth through the extension of geographic coverage, broadening the number and range of products in the catalogue, particularly those of non-antibody products, and through our M&A activities.

As other companies have reported, there has been more cautious spending amongst academic researchers in the US, arising, we believe, from uncertainty caused by central government negotiations around setting the National Institutes of Health budget. This has reduced the rate of US sales growth during the second half of our financial year, but we have seen some recovery in recent months.

Our online catalogue has continued to grow strongly, comprising over 73,652 products at the year end, and we achieved strong growth in non-primary antibody sales.

Tight cost control together with the impact of exchange rates has enabled us to improve both gross and operating margins (before MitoSciences acquisition costs) over those reported at the interim stage.

The Board believes that the Company is well placed to build on its position in the protein detection and regulation market and is excited by the potential this represents. Whilst our business has grown very strongly in recent years, we continue to be cautious as it is unclear to what extent any reduction in publicly funded research expenditure by Governments in the West, looking to address their fiscal deficits, may impact our business.

The Company will report its results for the year ending 30 June 2011 in mid September. 

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Notes for editors:

About Abcam plc

Abcam is a producer and distributor of high quality research-grade antibodies and associated proteomics research products. Antibodies and related products are essential tools for life scientists enabling them to analyse components of living cells at the molecular level.

Headquartered in Cambridge (UK), Abcam has subsidiary offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Eugene Oregon (USA), Tokyo (Japan) and Hong Kong (China) allowing them to serve a global customer base of 75 countries. Abcam employs over 325 staff across its five operating companies.

 Abcam now has an online catalogue of over 74,000 products sourced from over 250 suppliers. The catalogue includes a growing range of non-antibody products such as proteins, peptides, lysates, immunoassays and other kits. Products are available for life science research and distributed to academic and commercial users. A highly developed e-commerce platform, which includes regional websites for the Chinese and Japanese markets, allows customers to access up-to-date and detailed technical product data sheets at the Company's website www.abcam.com.

 Abcam was admitted to AIM in November 2005 and trades under the ticker symbol ABC. The Company's vision is to be the leading provider of protein research and detection tools globally.