COMPANY ANNOUNCES STRATEGIC FOCUS

23 Mar 2005 16:00

23rd March 2005 Tepnel Life Sciences PLC (`Tepnel' or `the Company') COMPANY ANNOUNCES STRATEGIC FOCUS ON REAGENT PRODUCTS AND SERVICES Withdrawal from lab equipment business Manchester, U.K. The Company (AIM: TED) has announced that following astrategic decision by the board to focus on research products & services andmolecular diagnostics, it has withdrawn from the specialist DNA-purificationinstrument business.Tepnel has since 31st December 2004 ceased the research, development, sales andmarketing activities associated with Nucleopure and Nucleoplex instrumentsystems. The company has provided at year-end a total of ‚£547,000, comprising ‚£506,000 for write down of stocks and ‚£41,000 in redundancy costs for peopleemployed directly or indirectly on these projects. Annualised payroll savingsassociated with the cessation of this activity are estimated at ‚£250,000.The benefits of this decision are expected to contribute positively tofinancial results for the year ended 31st December 2005.For Further Information:Tepnel Life Sciences plcBen Matzilevich, CEOGron Ffoulkes-Davies, Finance Director0161 946 2200Seymour PierceMark Percy, Corporate Finance0207 107 8000De Facto CommunicationsRichard Anderson020 7940 1000Notes to EditorsAbout Tepnel Life Sciences plcTepnel is a UK-based international life sciences company focused on moleculardiagnostics and research products and services including DNA purification kitsand reagents, scientific services for nucleic acid purification, drug analysis,genotyping and genetically modified foods. Tepnel was founded in 1992 toexploit DNA technology generated at UMIST (University of Manchester Instituteof Science and Technology) and is quoted on the AIM segment of the London StockExchange (AIM: TED). More information on Tepnel can be found at www.tepnel.com.ENDTEPNEL LIFE SCIENCES PLC