• EBIT margin boosted by more than 2% points to 18.5% (Q1/2009: 16.4%)
• EBIT of € 3.7 million (+36.7%; Q1/2009: € 2.7 million)
• Consolidated net income of € 2.9 million (+32.1%; Q1/2009: € 2.2 million)
• Sales of € 20.2 million (+20.8%; Q1/2009: € 16.7 million)
• Expansion in development and production capacities

Birkenfeld, April 28, 2010

STRATEC Biomedical Systems AG AG today released its figures for the period January 1, 2010 to March 31, 2010 through the publication of its interim report as of March 31, 2010.

Key Figures (€ thousand)	01.01.- 03.31.2010	01.01.- 03.31.2009	Change
Sales	20,225	16,743	+20.8%
Overall performance	23,229	19,068	+21.8%
EBITDA	4,433	3,325	+33.3%
EBIT	3,743	2,738	+36.7%
Consolidated net income	2,873	2,175	+32.1%
Earnings per share (€)	0.25	0.19	+31.6%
EBIT margin (%)	18.5	16.4

Financial performance – The positive performance of the company’s operating business is reflected in the sales and earnings figures for the first three months of the current financial year, and was mainly driven by strong demand for existing analyzer systems and consumables, such as maintenance kits. Furthermore, a number of pre-serial systems on which serial production has since begun were delivered in the past months.

Sales in the first three months of 2010 financial year (January 1, 2010 to March 31, 2010) showed significant growth of 20.8% to € 20.2 million (Q1/2009: € 16.7 million). They were accompanied by EBIT of € 3.7 million (Q1/2009: € 2.7 million), equivalent to a 36.7% increase. The EBIT margin for the first quarter of 2010 developed on target, amounting to 18.5% (Q1/2009: 16.4%).

Project development – We made positive progress on our development projects. For two of the newly designed analyzer systems underlying the development projects, the ramp-up phase in preparation for serial production was completed by the end of the first quarter of 2010. We have now launched serial production on these systems and begun to deliver them to our customers for initial stocking, indicating pending marketing launch. Thereafter the respective customers will start marketing these analyzer systems. For the two other analyzer systems, our customers expect serial production to begin in the second half of 2010.

Concurrently we are significantly expanding both our production and development capacities to enable us to handle ongoing strong turnover with established analyzer systems as well as the increasing number of pre-serial and serial systems to be manufactured. Our expansion plans will also provide us with the capacity to handle development orders that are currently in the negotiation stage.

Work began on the construction of a new building at our Birkenfeld location in the first quarter of 2010. This building, which will have floor space of 5,000m² and in which the development departments at the Birkenfeld location are to be grouped, is due to be completed in November 2010. It will soon be possible to track construction progress via webcam at our homepage www.stratec-biomedical.de. Work on the new building in Switzerland began in 2009 and our move into the new production building, which has a floor surface of 4,000m², is scheduled for June 2010. Combined these measures will virtually double our production capacities from the current level.

The construction project at the Birkenfeld location in is being financed from operating cash flow, and the new production building in Switzerland has been financed by taking up a loan on favorable interest terms.

Personnel development – Including temporary employees and employees at Invitek, which was acquired in April 2009, the STRATEC Group had a total workforce of 387 employees as of March 31, 2010 (March 31, 2009: 299). Compared with the balance sheet date on December 31, 2009, the STRATEC Group expanded its workforce by seven.

Outlook – Our business results for the first three months of the current year confirm the increase in sales to between € 96 million and € 102 million announced by the company. Our forecast is supported by positive expectations communicated by our customers concerning the turnover in their system solutions. The substantial increase in demand for individual analyzer systems from our customers has led to an unprecedented order backlog at STRATEC at the end of the first quarter of 2010, one which we intend to gradually work down over the coming quarters.

The EBIT margin developed on schedule in the first quarter and we remain confident that we will reach the forecast target of at least 19.0% for the 2010 financial year. Four major development programs, benefits of scale in production and the increasing share of sales generated with consumables and spare parts should facilitate further growth in the EBIT margin.

The volume of production orders indicates further substantial growth in the 2010 financial year. Moreover, our planning indicators for the 2011 financial year suggest ongoing positive business performance, as a result of which we continue to expect to be able to increase our sales by an average of at least 15% a year in the years 2010 to 2012.

Furthermore, we are holding talks on promising projects with existing and potential customers, which lead us to expect further growth driven by new projects well beyond 2012.

Further details can be found in our interim report as of March 31, 2010, which has been published at www.stratec-biomedical.de under Investor Relations / IR News / Financial Reports.

About STRATEC

STRATEC Biomedical AG (www.stratec.com) designs and manufactures fully automated analyzer systems for its partners in the fields of clinical diagnostics and biotechnology. These partners market such systems, in general together with their own reagents, to laboratories, blood banks and research institutes around the world. The company develops its products on the basis of its own patented technologies. Shares in the company (ISIN: DE0007289001) are traded in the Prime Standard segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, and are a constituent of the Deutsche Börse TecDAX.

The STRATEC Group consists of the publicly listed parent company STRATEC Biomedical AG and of subsidiaries and second-tier subsidiaries in Germany, the USA, the UK, Switzerland and Romania.

 

Further information can be obtained from:

STRATEC Biomedical AG
André Loy, Investor Relations
Gewerbestr. 37, 75217 Birkenfeld
Germany
Phone: +49 7082 7916 190
Fax: +49 7082 7916 999
Email:ir(at)stratec.com