Investor/Media Package Letter
July 24, 1998
Dear Investor,
Immucor is pleased to announce the FDA clearance of our ABS2000, the first fully automated instrument for Blood Serology testing. The ABS2000's target market is the hospital blood bank. The instrument performs ABO grouping, Rh typing, antibody screening and crossmatching. Today, these tests are performed manually by highly trained Medical Technologists with a specialty in Blood Banking. The instrument affords customers significant labor savings versus manual methods which translate into an instrument investment "pay back" within 12-36 months depending on account size. Programs are in place for third party leasing, reagent rental and purchase of the ABS2000. Immucor has spent the last 1 « years training support and service individuals for the launch of this product. This instrument was designed primarily for the North American market; however, we have placed over 30 outside of the United States and also expect to increase our international sales as additional software packages become available and are validated later this calendar year.
There are over 2500 placement opportunities for the ABS2000 in the U.S. Currently, there are no competitors with automation even pending FDA clearance! We believe this gives Immucor a considerable head start in the market share acquisition game. The company expects to obtain over 30% of the instrument placement market over the next 4 years. The average revenue per instrument placement will exceed $80,000, with a 50% gross margin per placement. The ABS2000 is a closed system with annual reagent/disposable trail of approximately $30,000 per placement. Gross margin on reagents will exceed 65%.
In addition to the ABS2000, Immucor has added two semi-automated instruments for the higher volume market segments. The DIAS PLUS is currently available for large, high volume laboratories processing more than 100,000 samples or more per year. To date we have placed 3 of these systems. The instrument revenue is approximately $160,000 with a gross margin of 35-40%. Reagent trail can often exceed $200,000 per account depending on assays performed. The number of potential placements is limited; however, the higher reagent trail associated with each placement will provide significant sales dollars to the company. As with the ABS2000, gross margins on the reagents will exceed 65%.
The second instrument, the ROSYS Plato, was recently acquired to serve the markets consisting of larger hospital laboratories and private clinical laboratories processing less than 100,000 samples per year. This product will be introduced this summer with expected instrument revenues of $120,000 per placement. Since the exclusive marketing rights for North America were acquired for this product through a joint venture between Immucor, Inc. and IBG Systems LTD, margins on instrument sales will be in the 25% range. However, expected reagent trails should be over $50,000 per placement per year and provide over a 65% gross margin. The company expects to place approximately 100 systems over the next 4 years.
We are extremely excited about the FDA clearance of our flagship product, the ABS2000! We believe Immucor has the products, the strategy and the people to restate the Transfusion Diagnostics market!
If you would like additional information, please contact us at 800-829-2553 or visit our website at immucor.com
Sincerely Yours
Edward L. Gallup
President and CEO
This correspondence may contain forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Reform Act of 1995, including, without limitation, statements concerning the Company's expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. All forward-looking statements included in this document are based on information available to the company on the date hereof, and the Company assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Further risks are detailed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those set forth in the Company's most recent Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. |
