ABC.L Regulatory News (ABC)

15 Jul 2009 07:00



For immediate release 15 July 2009

ABCAM PLC

("Abcam" or "the Company")

Year-end Trading Update

Cambridge, UK: Abcam plc (AIM: ABC), the rapidly growing bioscience company that markets antibodies via its own online catalogue, is pleased to announce a pre-close trading update ahead of its results for the year ended 30 June 2009. 

Trading in the second half of the year has been strong and the exchange rate environment has been more favourable than was previously envisaged due to the continued relative weakness of sterling. Consequently sales for the year have ended slightly ahead of our earlier expectations.

Gross margins have also been strong, which, together with the ongoing control of costs and operational leverage inherent in the business, means that we anticipate the profit before tax for the year will be around 9% ahead of current market consensus. 

The restructuring of the production facility in Cambridge, which was outlined in the Company's interim results statement in March, has been completed successfully and, as envisaged, an impairment charge of £1.1 million (£0.8 million after tax) for fixed assets that are no longer of use in the business will be taken in the second half of the year.

Whilst it is difficult to assess what impact if any the current economic climate is having on trading because of the defensive features of our market and business model, we continue to exercise a degree of caution when assessing future prospects as policy-makers around the world respond to unprecedented challenges. There also remains the potential for further significant volatility in exchange rates, which we have mitigated in part by selling forward a substantial portion of our planned excess foreign currency for the 2009/10 financial year. 

The preliminary results for the 2009 financial year will be announced in the week commencing 7 September 2009.

For further information please contact: 

Abcam + 44 (0) 1223 696000 

Jonathan Milner, Chief Executive Officer 

Jeff Iliffe, Chief Financial Officer 

www.abcam.com 

Numis Securities + 44 (0) 20 7260 1000 

Michael Meade / Nick Westlake - Nominated Adviser

James Black - Corporate Broking

Buchanan Communications + 44 (0) 20 7466 5000 

Mark Court / Mary-Jane Johnson / Stasa Filiplic

Notes for editors:

About Abcam plc

Abcam is a producer and distributor of research-grade antibodies headquartered in Cambridge, UK, with a US office located in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a Japanese office in Tokyo. Abcam was admitted to AIM in November 2005 and trades under the ticker symbol ABC. The Company produces and distributes its own and third party produced antibodies to academic and commercial users throughout the world with product information provided and ordering available through the Company's website, www.abcam.com. The antibodies are sold under the Abcam brand name. The Company's vision is to build the largest online antibody resource in the world while also ensuring that the antibodies are of high quality and commercially viable. Abcam now has an online catalogue of over 52,000 products, most of which are antibodies, from over 250 suppliers supported by up-to-date and detailed technical data sheets, which are created by the Company. The Company currently employs 228 staff in its three operating companies.