LION bioscience Announces a Successful Fiscal Year 2000/2001
HEIDELBERG, Germany, June 6 /PRNewswire/ -- LION bioscience AG (Nasdaq: LEON; Neuer Markt: 504350, LIO)
Results of Fiscal Year 2000/2001 Highlights LION bioscience AG's Successful International Expansion.
* Annual revenue grew by 128% to 23.3 million Euros compared with previous
fiscal year.
* Net loss (excluding non-cash compensation expenses) increased by only 7%
to 13.5 million Euros compared to the previous fiscal year.
* LION obtained proceeds in the amount of 209 million Euros as a result of
successful IPO.
* Pronounced and successful expansion of global customer base and market
presence.
* Successful acquisition of Trega Biosciences, Inc. in the 2000/2001
fiscal year.
LION bioscience AG is pleased with the results of fiscal year 2001 (April 2000 - March 2001), which exceeded LION's expectations. Despite a downturn in the economy and a negative reversal of the trends on the international stock exchanges for technology stocks, LION bioscience AG was able to exceed the consensus estimates of analysts for each quarter of fiscal year 2001. Based upon its own planning in April 2000, LION had targeted total annual revenue of approximately 18.5 million Euros for fiscal year 2001 but managed to increase the revenue targets throughout the fiscal year. In fiscal year 2001, annual revenue was increased by approximately 13 million Euros, or 128%, to 23.3 million Euros compared to 10.2 million Euros in the previous fiscal year. Since formation of the company, revenue has consistently grown by more than 100% each fiscal year.
In the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2001, revenue increased by 76% to 7.8 million Euros compared to 4.4 million Euros in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2000. Research & Development collaborations contributed 5.7 million Euros in revenue compared to 2.7 million Euros in the same period of the previous fiscal year. Revenues from licenses increased to 2.1 million Euros in the fourth quarter compared to 1.7 million Euros in the same period of the previous fiscal year.
Research & Development expenses increased in fiscal year 2001 by 101% (133% of total revenue) to 30.9 million Euros compared to 15.4 million Euros (151% of total revenue) in fiscal year 2000. This increase was consistent with LION's planning. LION's SG&A expenses increased, also according to its business plan by 71% (55% of revenue) to 12.7 million Euros in fiscal year 2001 compared to 7.4 million Euros (73% of revenue) in fiscal year 2000.
Excluding non-cash compensation expenses LION incurred a net loss of 13.5 million Euros (58% of revenue) for fiscal year 2001 compared with 12.6 million Euros (124% of revenue) in fiscal year 2000. Including these non-cash compensation expenses, which LION had previously discussed in its second quarter report for fiscal year 2001 and which resulted from the conversion of LION preferred shares into ordinary shares in May 2000 in the amount of 8.7 million Euros and from stock options issued by LION in the amount of 1.7 million Euros, LION incurred a net loss of 23.9 million Euros (103% of revenue) in fiscal year 2001.
Major milestones of the 2001 fiscal year included:
* Dr. Jan Mous joined LION bioscience AG in May 2000 as Chief Scientific
Officer and member of the management board
* Successful IPO and listing on Neuer Markt and NASDAQ in August 2000
* Product launch for genomeSCOUT(TM) in September 2000
* Expansion of LION's cooperation with Bayer into the area of
pharmacophore informatics in October 2000
* Agreement for development of bioinformatics infrastructure for Nestle in
November 2000
* Strategic alliance with Celera Genomics in November 2000
* Public announcement of merger agreement between LION and Trega
Biosciences at the end of December 2000
* Expression profiling infrastructure for Max-Planck institutes in
January 2001
* Product launch for arraySCOUT(TM) version 2.0 in January 2001
* Cooperation agreement with and investment in Gesellschaft fur
Medizinische Datenverarbeitung (GMD) in February 2001
* Expansion of cooperation with Intervet in March 2001
* 30 new customer contracts in fiscal year 2001
LION successfully expanded its business activities in all major regions (USA, Europe and Japan) in which it is active through new customer contracts. LION met or exceeded the operational targets LION had set for the 2001 fiscal year. The average number of employees grew during fiscal year 2001 to 318 compared to 180 in the previous fiscal year. This increase is due in part to LION's acquisition of Trega Biosciences. As a result of this acquisition, LION gained a presence on the West Coast of the United States. Despite the strong increase in personnel the revenue per employee increased by 28% to 73,000 Euros compared with 57,000 Euros in the previous fiscal year.
Loss per share improved as well. Excluding the above-referenced non-cash compensation expenses, loss per share came to (0.89 Euros), which represents an improvement of 55% compared with the previous year (1.97 Euros).
The company is optimistic about the developments of fiscal year 2002 and has set a revenue target for fiscal year 2002 of twice the amount of revenue generated during fiscal year 2001.
LION's annual report for fiscal year 2001 is available for downloading from LION's web site under lionbioscience.com. The report can also be ordered directly from the company.
About LION bioscience
LION bioscience AG (http://www.lionbioscience.com) is a pioneer in the field of enterprise-wide R&D data analysis and information management systems and solutions for the life sciences and, ultimately, the healthcare industry.
To date, LION AG has established numerous alliances in informatics and genomics with leading Life Science research companies, including Affymetrix, Aventis, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Celera, DuPont, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen, Merck Inc., Nestle, Novartis, Paradigm, Pharmacia & Upjohn, Pfizer, Sumitomo Pharmaceuticals and Tripos.
All statements in this press release that are not historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. securities laws. Such statements are based on current expectations that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may vary materially from those projected because of factors such as uncertainties relating to technologies, product development, or manufacturing, market acceptance, cost or pricing of LION's products, dependence on collaborations and partners, regulatory approvals, competition, intellectual property of others, or patent protection and litigation. These and other risk factors are discussed in LION's Registration Statement on Form F-4 declared effective by the SEC on February 9, 2001. LION expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates, revisions or corrections to any forward-looking statements or historical information contained herein.
LION bioscience(R) and i-biology(R) are either registered trademarks of LION bioscience AG in the United States and/or other countries, or LION bioscience AG has pending applications for these trademarks in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademark of the respective owners. Trega Biosciences, Inc. has a pending trademark application for iDEA(TM) in the United States. Trega(R) is a registered trademark of Trega Biosciences, Inc.
LION bioscience
Dr. Alexander Asam
Head of Investor Relations
49 (0)6221-4038-215
alexander.asam@lionbioscience.com
LION bioscience
Klaus Sprockamp, CFO/COO
49-6221-4038-192
klaus.sprockamp@lionbioscience.com
Noonan/Russo Communications
Ernie Knewitz
1 212-696-4455 ext. 204
ernie.knewitz@noonanrusso.com
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SOURCE LION bioscience AG
CO: LION bioscience AG
ST: Germany
IN: BIO
SU:
06/06/2001 01:00 EDT prnewswire.com |
