neog expands share buy back to 500,000 shares
Tuesday January 26, 9:31 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: Neogen Corporation
Neogen Expands Share Repurchase Program
LANSING, Mich., Jan. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Neogen Corporation (Nasdaq: NEOG - news) today reported that its Board of Directors has increased its
authorization for Company common stock repurchase from the previously announced 250,000 shares to 500,000 shares.
Neogen has repurchased 228,900 shares since August 1998 under the initial Board authorization. Like the shares already repurchased, additional shares
will be purchased on the open market or in negotiated transactions, depending upon market conditions and other factors. Accordingly, there is no
guarantee as to the exact number of shares to be repurchased. Currently, there are approximately 6,000,000 outstanding shares of Company common
stock.
''The Board and management continue to believe the repurchase program is a good investment of company resources,'' said Lon Bohannon, Neogen's
chief financial officer. ''We see no fundamental reason our stock price has not increased given our outstanding year-over-year revenue and pre-tax
profit results. We believe Neogen, like many other micro-cap stocks, has been overlooked in the market and has failed to gain the sponsorship from Wall
Street that would be consistent with our performance.''
Neogen reported record second quarter sales of $5,921,000, a 28% increase from the previous year's second quarter sales of $4,627,000. Sales for the
Company's first six months were $11,637,000, a jump of 29% from fiscal 1998's sales of $9,054,000. Neogen's income before taxes rose to $1,049,000
for the second quarter, a 42% increase from the previous year's $738,000. Year-to- date, income before taxes stood at $1,949,000 -- an increase of
40% from the previous fiscal year's $1,388,000.
Neogen recently announced an agreement to distribute the most advanced rapid sanitation testing system available. The system, Uni-Lite XCEL made
by Biotrace, complements Neogen's existing proprietary line of simple and rapid food safety test kits for the detection of foodborne pathogens, natural
toxins and allergens. Existing Uni-Lite XCEL customers include 30 of the top 50 food and beverage companies in the United States and Canada.
Biotrace is a 11- year-old company based in Great Britain with a world-wide distribution network. Its 1997 calendar year sales were 6.98m pounds,
about $11 million U.S. Biotrace has seen sales growths of 40-60% since the Uni-Lite XCEL System was launched in January 1996. Industry estimates
place the U.S. and Canadian sanitation testing market at about $50 million annually.
Neogen Corporation is a Lansing, Michigan based company that develops and markets products and services dedicated to food and animal safety. The
Company's diagnostic products are used by food and animal producers to test for foodborne bacteria, natural toxins, drug and chemical residues, plant
diseases and quality assurance.
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties.
SOURCE: Neogen Corporation
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