Nabi Biopharmaceuticals Announces Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2008 Financial Results


ROCKVILLE, Md., March 11, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nabi Biopharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:NABI) today announced fourth quarter and year-end financial results for the three and twelve month periods ended December 27, 2008.

For the full year ended December 27, 2008, the Company's net loss from continuing operations was $15.0 million, or $0.29 per share, compared to a net loss of $24.5 million, or $0.41 per share, for the year ended December 29, 2007. Including results from discontinued operations, Nabi had a net loss of $10.7 million, or $0.20 per share, for 2008 compared to net income of $47.1 million, or $0.78 per share, in 2007. A $79.7 million pre-tax gain on the sale of the biologics strategic business unit was the primary component of net income for 2007.

For the quarter ended December 27, 2008, the Company recorded a net loss from continuing operations of $2.8 million, or $0.05 per share, compared to a net gain of $9.7 million, or $0.16 per share, for the prior year period. Including results from discontinued operations, Nabi had a net loss of $2.4 million, or $0.05 per share, compared to net income of $78.8 million, or $1.32 per share, in 2007. During the quarter, the Company repurchased 0.5 million shares of its common stock at an average price of $3.17 per share. The Company also repurchased $18.7 million, par value, of its 2.875% convertible senior notes for $16.6 million, a $2.1 million discount, resulting in a $1.6 million gain on retirement of debt for the quarter.

The Company repurchased 5.1 million shares of its common stock during 2008 at an average price of $3.66 per share. Since the inception of the repurchase plan in December 2007, a total of 10.1 million shares have been repurchased for a total of $36.9 million, leaving a balance of $28.1 million in the plan at December 27, 2008. Nabi also repurchased $57.3 million, par value, of 2.875% convertible senior notes for $51.6 million during the year, leaving a balance of $16.3 million, par value, at December 27, 2008. The debt repurchases resulted in a $4.0 gain on retirement of debt for the full year.

Net cash used in operating activities was $18.9 million for the full year 2008, a 29% reduction compared to $26.7 million used in 2007. Excluding discontinued operations, cash used in operating activities was $22.8 million for 2008 compared to $42.6 million in 2007, a reduction of 46%. Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities totaled $130.3 million at the end of 2008 compared to $219.2 million at the end of 2007. These balances exclude $10.2 million and $10.0 million, respectively, of restricted cash related to discontinued operations. This restricted cash is held in escrow to support any valid indemnification claims made by Biotest Pharmaceuticals. The balance of this escrow account will be released to Nabi in April 2009. The decrease in the balance of cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities is largely due to $20.0 million for stock repurchases and $51.6 million to repurchase debt as well as cash used in operating activities during 2008.

"2008 was a year of transformation for Nabi as we transitioned from a fully-integrated biopharmaceutical company to one that is keenly focused on vaccines to address critical unmet medical needs in the areas of nicotine addiction and infectious disease," said Dr. Raafat Fahim, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nabi Biopharmaceuticals. "I am proud of the significant progress we achieved with our principal pipeline products, NicVAX and PentaStaph. We successfully completed a Phase 2 dose and schedule optimization immunogenicity study and also reached agreement with the FDA on a Special Protocol Assessment for NicVAX, positioning the vaccine to enter Phase 3. These achievements significantly improved the probability of clinical and regulatory success and enhanced the value of NicVAX. We also signed two important collaborative development agreements with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the U.S. Department of Defense for PentaStaph. Both of these agreements aim to advance the clinical development of PentaStaph and enhance its value. We remain in a position of financial strength with ample cash, and a markedly reduced level of debt. With the steps we have taken in 2008, we believe that we added significant value to our pipeline products and are in a better position to advance our strategic alternatives so as to realize the full value of these assets for the benefit of our shareholders."

Financial Results Conference Call and Webcast Information

The Company will host a live webcast at 4:30 p.m. EST today to discuss these results.

The live webcast can be accessed at: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?p=irol-eventDetails&c=100445&eventID=2109473 (Due to the length of this URL, it may be necessary to copy and paste this hyperlink into your browser. Remove the space if one exists.) or via the Nabi Biopharmaceuticals website at http://www.nabi.com.

If you do not have Internet access, the U.S./Canada call-in number is 888-396-2386 and the international call-in number is 617-847-8712. The passcode is 31351884. An audio replay will be available for U.S./Canada callers at 888-286-8010 and for international callers at 617-801-6888. The replay passcode is 12609657. An audio replay of this call will be available through March 18, 2009. The press release and an archived version of the webcast will be available on the company's website at http://www.nabi.com.

About Nabi Biopharmaceuticals

Nabi Biopharmaceuticals leverages its experience and knowledge in powering the immune system to develop products that target serious medical conditions in the areas of nicotine addiction and gram-positive bacterial infections. Nabi Biopharmaceuticals is currently developing NicVAX(r) (Nicotine Conjugate Vaccine), an innovative and proprietary investigational vaccine for treatment of nicotine addiction and prevention of smoking relapse, and StaphVAX(r) (Staphylococcus aureus Polysaccharide Conjugate Vaccine), a vaccine designed to prevent the most dangerous and prevalent strains of S. aureus bacterial infections. The company is headquartered in Rockville, Maryland. For additional information about Nabi Biopharmaceuticals, please visit our Web site:http://www.nabi.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this release that are not strictly historical are forward-looking statements including statements about the strategic alternatives process, development of our product candidates, and clinical trials and studies. You can identify these forward-looking statements because they involve our expectations, beliefs, projections, preferences, intentions, anticipations or other characterizations of future events or circumstances. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of any number of factors. These factors include, but are not limited to, risks relating to our ability to: successfully pursue strategic and other alternatives; obtain successful clinical trial results; successfully partner with third parties to fund, develop, and manufacture our pipeline products, including NicVAX and PentaStaph attract and maintain the human and financial resources to bring to market products in development; receive PhosLo milestone and royalty proceeds; depend upon third parties to manufacture our products; achieve approval and market acceptance of our products; enter into and maintain arrangements with third parties to market and sell our products; comply with reporting and payment obligations under government rebate and pricing programs; raise additional capital on acceptable terms, or at all; and re-pay our outstanding convertible senior notes when due. Many of these factors are more fully discussed, as are other factors, in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 29, 2007 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.



                       Nabi Biopharmaceuticals
                 CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
            (In thousands, except share and per share data)

                                                 Sept. 27,   Dec. 29,
                                                    2008       2007
                                                 ---------  ---------
 ASSETS
 Current assets:
   Cash and cash equivalents                     $ 106,438  $ 217,606
   Marketable securities                            23,900      1,600
   Prepaid expenses and other current assets         1,430      2,371
   Assets of discontinued operations (including
    restricted cash in 2008)                        10,409      4,616
                                                 ---------  ---------
     Total current assets                          142,177    226,193

 Property and equipment, net                         1,315      1,971
 Other assets (including discontiunued
  operations restricted cash in 2007)                  657     10,406
                                                 ---------  ---------
 Total assets                                    $ 144,149  $ 238,570
                                                 =========  =========

 LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
 Current liabilities:
   Accounts payable                              $   1,226  $   3,647
   Accrued expenses and other
    current liabilities                              3,030      7,105
   Current liabilities of
    discontinued operations                          3,381      9,548
                                                 ---------  ---------
     Total current liabilities                       7,637     20,300

 2.875% convertible senior notes, net               16,024     71,738
                                                 ---------  ---------
 Total liabilities                                  23,661     92,038
 Commitments and contingencies
 Stockholders' equity:
   Convertible preferred stock                          --         --
   Common stock                                      6,239      6,212
   Capital in excess of par value                  336,691    333,527
   Treasury stock                                 (42,187)   (23,608)
   Other comprehensive income                           60         --
   Accumulated deficit                           (180,315)  (169,599)
                                                 ---------  ---------
     Total stockholders' equity                    120,488    146,532
                                                 ---------  ---------
 Total liabilities and stockholders' equity      $ 144,149  $ 238,570
                                                 =========  =========


                       Nabi Biopharmaceuticals
           CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
           (In thousands, except share and per share data)

                                    For the             For the
                                 Three Months        Twelve Months
                                     Ended               Ended
                               ------------------  ------------------
                               Dec. 27,  Dec. 29,  Dec. 27,  Dec. 29,
                                 2008      2007      2008      2007
                               --------  --------  --------  --------
 Operating expenses:
   General and
    administrative expenses    $  2,269  $  5,049  $ 12,415  $ 26,090
   Research and
    development expenses          2,651     3,592    12,556    18,841
                               --------  --------  --------  --------
 Operating loss                 (4,920)   (8,641)  (24,971)  (44,931)
   Interest income                  492     1,675     4,579     6,026
   Interest expense               (171)     (818)   (1,456)   (3,454)
   Other income
    (expense), net                1,587     3,564     4,122     3,576
                               --------  --------  --------  --------
 Loss from continuing
  operations before
  income taxes                  (3,012)   (4,220)  (17,726)  (38,783)
   Income taxes                     247    13,946     2,765    14,265
                               --------  --------  --------  --------
 Loss from continuing
  operations                    (2,765)     9,726  (14,961)  (24,518)
 Discontinued operations:
   Net income from
    discontinued operations         380     3,783     4,245     4,036
   Net gain on disposal of
    discontinued operations          --    65,241        --    67,551
                               --------  --------  --------  --------
 Income (loss) from
  discontinued operations           380    69,024     4,245    71,587
                               --------  --------  --------  --------
 Net loss                      $(2,385)  $ 78,750  $(10,716) $ 47,069
                               ========  ========  ========  ========

 Basic and diluted (loss)
  income per share:
   Continuing operations       $ (0.05)  $   0.16  $ (0.29)  $ (0.41)
   Discontinued operations         0.00      1.15      0.09      1.19
                               --------  --------  --------  --------
 Basic and diluted (loss)
  income per share             $ (0.05)  $   1.32  $ (0.20)  $   0.78
                               ========  ========  ========  ========

 Basic and diluted weighted
  average shares outstanding     51,404    59,831    51,866    60,295
                               ========  ========  ========  ========


                        Nabi Biopharmaceuticals
            CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
                            (In thousands)
                                                 For the Years Ended
                                                 --------------------
                                                  Dec. 27,   Dec. 29,
                                                    2008       2007
                                                 ---------  ---------

 Cash flow from operating activities:
   Loss from continuing operations               $(14,961)  $(24,518)
   Adjustments to reconcile loss from continuing
    operations to net cash used in operating
    activities from continuing operations:
     Depreciation and amortization                     574      1,725
     Non-cash intra-period tax allocation          (2,765)   (14,265)
     Accretion of discount on convertible
      senior notes                                      70        168
     Non-cash compensation                           2,733      2,770
     Gain on repurchase of convertible
      senior notes                                 (4,023)    (3,583)
     Other                                              48        (5)
   Changes in assets and liabilities:
     Prepaid expenses and other assets                 541      (401)
     Trade accounts payable, accrued expenses
      and other                                    (4,982)    (4,488)
                                                 ---------  ---------
   Total adjustments                               (7,804)   (18,079)
                                                 ---------  ---------
 Net cash used in operating activities from
  continuing operations                           (22,765)   (42,597)
 Net cash provided by operating activities
  from discontinued operations                       3,864     15,853
                                                 ---------  ---------
 Net cash used in operating activities            (18,901)   (26,744)
                                                 ---------  ---------

 Cash flow from investing activities:
   Purchases of marketable securities             (23,871)   (29,475)
   Proceeds from sales of marketable securities      1,600     60,375
   Capital expenditures                               (53)      (110)
   Other investing activities, net                     112         80
                                                 ---------  ---------
 Net cash provided by (used in) investing
  activities from continuing operations           (22,212)     30,870
 Net cash provided by investing activities
  from discontinued operations                       1,567    176,362
                                                 ---------  ---------
 Net cash provided by (used in)
  investing activities                            (20,645)    207,232
                                                 ---------  ---------

 Cash flow from financing activities:
   Proceeds from issuance of common stock for
    employee benefit plans                             128        728
   Purchase of common stock for treasury          (20,010)   (16,523)
   Repurchase of convertible senior notes         (51,634)   (34,071)
   Other financing activities                         (83)         82
                                                 ---------  ---------
 Net cash used in financing activities from
  continuing operations                           (71,599)   (49,784)
 Net cash (used in) provided by financing
  activities from discontinued operations             (23)        675
                                                 ---------  ---------
 Net cash used in financing activities            (71,622)   (49,109)
                                                 ---------  ---------

 Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents       (111,168)    131,379
 Cash and cash equivalents at beginning
  of period                                        217,606     86,227
                                                 ---------  ---------
 Cash and cash equivalents at end of period      $ 106,438  $ 217,606
                                                 =========  =========


            

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