Tecan announces financial results for the first half of 2014 as well as successes in product and corporate development

Tecan Group AG / Tecan announces financial results for the first half of 2014 as well as successes in product and corporate development . Processed and transmitted by NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

Financial results

·      Order entry of CHF 196.6 million (H1 2013: CHF 189.2 million)

o   Growth of 6.8% in local currencies or 3.9% in Swiss francs

o   Double-digit order growth in Life Sciences Business

o   Order backlog with double-digit increase for the Group

·      Sales of CHF 172.0 million (H1 2013: CHF 181.8 million)

o   Sales 2.7% below prior-year figure in local currencies or -5.4% in Swiss francs

o   Strong growth in the Life Sciences Business

o   Lower sales in the Partnering Business mainly due to delays in order placement from two OEM customers

·      Operating profit (EBIT) of CHF 22.3 million (H1 2013: CHF 23.1 million)

o   Improvement of 30 basis points in EBIT margin to 13.0% (H1 2013: 12.7%)

o   EBIT margin of 13.6%, assuming constant exchange rates

·      Net profit of CHF 18.6 million (H1 2013: CHF 16.5 million); increase of 12.8%

o   Improvement of 170 basis points in net profit margin to 10.8% (H1 2013: 9.1%)

o   Earnings per share increased by 11.3% to CHF 1.68 (H1 2013: CHF 1.51)

·      Cash flow from operating activities: CHF 16.2 million (H1 2013: CHF 5.5 million)

o   Cash flow from operating activities, excluding prefinancing of an OEM development project, of CHF 28.9 million (H1 2013: CHF 28.4 million)

·      Outlook for full-year 2014 confirmed

Operating highlights and other important information

·      Launch of Fluent(TM) laboratory automation family, Tecan's next generation liquid handling platform in the Life Sciences Business

·      Sales and delivery ramp-up of Dako Omnis in the first half-year as expected

·      After close of reporting period: acquisition of IBL International, a leading immunoassay company for specialty diagnostics, to support Tecan's evolution into a solutions business

o   Transaction successfully closed on July 31, 2014

Männedorf, Switzerland, August 13, 2014 - The Tecan Group (SIX Swiss Exchange: TECN) today announced its financial results for the first half of 2014 as well as successes in product and corporate development.

Tecan CEO David Martyr commented: "We have seen a strong recovery in our Life Sciences Business with a good start into the year in the established markets in Europe and North America - markets that suffered from austerity measures and budget cuts in 2013. Our sales in Partnering Business were disappointing in the first half of the year, mostly due to delays in order placement from two large customer accounts for unrelated reasons. Overall we finished the first half with the highest level in order backlog in at least the last five years.