UPPSALA, Sweden, April 28, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Biacore's sales in the first quarter of 2004 amounted to SEK 95.3 million (106.5), a decline by 11%. Excluding the impact of exchange rates, sales increased by 2%. Encouragingly, the Americas saw its second quarter of positive sales development, as early-stage drug discovery customers resumed instrument purchases. This positive trend was also seen in Europe. The reported sales decline was entirely due to a disruption in purchasing patterns caused by a reorganization and de- centralization of academic research in Japan.
- Biacore's earnings per share in the first quarter of 2004 were SEK 0.27 (0.77), a decrease of 65% due to lower sales.
- The Company is completing the development of its new SPR array technology with the first of the novel systems based on this technology due to be introduced in the latter part of this year.
- The Board of Biacore has decided to take the steps necessary to de- list the Company's ADRs from Nasdaq National Market in the United States. A time plan for this process is now in place with the de-listing expected to take place on May 21, 2004.
- The Board has decided to recommend to today's Annual General Meeting an unchanged dividend payment for the financial year 2003 of SEK 3.00 per share.
- Biacore maintains its previous outlook for the full-year 2004: The current market and currency conditions make an accurate sales forecast for 2004 difficult. However, Biacore expects sales and earnings per share for the full-year 2004 to increase. As always, sales and earnings are likely to vary substantially between quarters.
Biacore International AB (publ) Company registration number: 556534-5211
Head office:
Biacore International SA, Puits-Godet 12, CH-2000 Neuchatel, Switzerland Phone +41 32 720 9000
info@biacore.com www.biacore.com (SSE:BCOR) (Nasdaq:BCOR) (Reuters: BCOR.N)
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