>>MORRISVILLE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 18, 2005--Trimeris, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRMS - News):
Strong double digit FUZEON® sales growth in North America
Worldwide sales for nine months up over 50%
Trimeris, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRMS - News) today announced worldwide net sales of FUZEON were $48.9 million, up 43.1 percent from $34.2 million in the third quarter of 2004. Net sales of FUZEON in the U.S. and Canada were $28.4 million, up 34.8 percent from $21.1 million in the third quarter of 2004. Net sales of FUZEON outside the U.S. and Canada were $20.5 million, up 56.2 percent from $13.1 million in the third quarter of 2004. All sales of FUZEON are recorded by F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., ("Roche"), Trimeris' collaborative partner.
On a sequential basis, net sales of FUZEON in the U.S. and Canada were up 12.6 percent in the third quarter from $25.2 million in the second quarter of 2005, the largest sequential gain observed this year. Net sales of FUZEON outside the U.S. and Canada were down 28.6 percent from $28.7 million in the second quarter of 2005 primarily due to a large bulk purchase by the Brazilian government in the second quarter. Excluding this purchase, third quarter sales outside of the U.S. and Canada saw a modest single digit decline, reflecting expected seasonality.
Worldwide net sales of FUZEON for the nine months ended September 30, 2005 were $145.3 million, up 52.3 percent from $95.4 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2004. Net sales of FUZEON in the U.S. and Canada for the nine months ended September 30, 2005 were $76.9 million, up 25.1 percent from $61.5 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2004. Net sales of FUZEON outside the U.S. and Canada for the nine months ended September 30, 2005 were $68.4 million, up 101.8 percent from $33.9 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2004. These strong results reflect continued growth in the U.S and Canada and major European markets.
"We are particularly pleased with the growth of FUZEON prescriptions through the quarter indicating that physicians and patients are increasingly incorporating FUZEON into treatment regimens to achieve significant improvements in care," said Steven D. Skolsky, Chief Executive Officer of Trimeris.
Trimeris, Inc. also announced that it has rescheduled the release of its full financial results for the third quarter of 2005 from today until Thursday, October 20, 2005, at 4:00 p.m. Eastern time. Trimeris was originally scheduled to release earnings concurrently with Roche. The rescheduling is simply the result of Trimeris and its outside auditors requiring two additional days to complete the normal review of the financial results, and is not related to any accounting irregularities or extraordinary items. The earnings announcement on Thursday, October 20, 2005, will be followed by a conference call at 4:30 p.m., led by Steven D. Skolsky, Chief Executive Officer, and other members of Trimeris senior management.
Audio of the conference call will be broadcast simultaneously over the Internet. This webcast can be accessed by going to the Trimeris Web site, www.trimeris.com.
To access the conference call, please dial 800-399-8403 (U.S.) or 706-634-6565 (international). Telephone replay will be available approximately two hours after the call through 11:59 p.m. Eastern time, November 6, 2005. To access the replay, please call 800-642-1687 (U.S.) or 706-645-9291 (international). The conference ID number is 1476926. Information provided on the teleconference is only accurate at the time of the conference call, and Trimeris will take no responsibility for providing updated information. <<
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B of A initiated with a sell today, and the stock shook it off. I don't know what the royalty situation is or how Roche does its accounting (the latter an interesting question in the context of paying partners, remembering IGEN). Presumably the B of A analyst has access to the same scrips numbers that the GS folks have. Also, presumably, they are looking at numbers that are a few weeks fresher. The stock was down 5 cents today and is currently up 5 cents after hours. The above news came out at 4PM on the nose, so AH traders have seen it, and aren't reacting much. Worldwide sales were down $4 million sequentially. Last quarter, the loss was 14 cents. The estimates for this quarter range from a loss of 4 cents to a loss of 16, with a mean of 10 cents. Given the decline in sales, I'd guess the number will be closer to the low end. However, if TRMS has a higher royalty rate in the U.S., they might manage the middle of the range, but I doubt it (unless they issued a bunch more shares this quarter, spreading the impact).
Compare to last quarter's PR, in which they do not mention the bulk sale to Brazil (willing to bet it was heavily discounted, knowing Brazil). Kind of like not mentioning a stuffed channel.
trimeris.com
Cheers, Tuck |
