QIAGEN Reports Fourth-Quarter and Fiscal 1999 Year-End Results
The company reported that consolidated net sales for its fourth quarter 1999 increased 30% to $39.1 million, from $30.1 million for the same period in 1998. Excluding the effect of purchased in-process research and development related to the acquisition of Rapigene Inc., operating income for the fourth quarter 1999 increased 113% to $7.5 million from $3.5 million in the comparable period in 1998 and net income for the quarter ended December 31, 1999 increased 47% to $5.5 million from $3.7 million in the same quarter of 1998. Excluding the effect of purchased in-process research and development related to the acquisition of Rapigene Inc., diluted earnings per share increased to $0.16 (based on 34.9 million average shares outstanding) from $0.11 (based on 34.5 million average shares outstanding) in the comparable quarter of 1998.
For the fiscal year 1999, total reported net sales increased 31% to $144.0 million from $110.2 million in the comparable period of 1998. Excluding the effect of purchased in-process research and development related to the Rapigene Inc. acquisition, operating income for the 1999 fiscal year increased 80% to $26.5 million from $14.7 million in 1998 and net income for 1999 increased 42% to $17.7 million from $12.4 million in 1998. Excluding the effect of purchased in-process research and development related to the Rapigene Inc. acquisition, diluted earnings per share for the year 1999 increased to $0.51 (based on 34.7 million average shares outstanding) from $0.36 (based on 34.5 million average shares outstanding) for 1998. Cash and cash equivalents along with marketable securities at December 31, 1999 totaled $44.2 million.
In December 1999, QIAGEN acquired 100% of the outstanding shares of Rapigene Inc. In the financial statements for the period, the company recorded an after tax charge of $5.1 million (or $0.15 a share) for purchased in-process research and development. In addition, based on the preliminary purchase price allocation QIAGEN intends to amortize approximately $4.8 million of developed technology and goodwill related to this transaction over a period of seven and 10 years, respectively.
"1999 was a very exciting year for QIAGEN," said Metin Colpan, QIAGEN's Chief Executive Officer. "We announced several strategic acquisitions and collaborations as part of our continued expansion into several key, highly visible, high growth markets which we have targeted because of their growth potential. The expansion of the markets we serve and the promising developments within those markets are building a strong basis for QIAGEN's future growth."
Highlights of 1999:
- QIAGEN acquired Rapigene Inc., a leader in the area of innovative, enabling technologies and services for single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analyses as well as other genomic applications.
- QIAGEN formed an alliance with Zeptosens AG, which intends to build on the powerful combination of Zeptosens' proprietary and innovative planar waveguide (PWG) platform detection technology.
- QIAGEN and Affymetrix Inc. signed an agreement to develop and commercialize nucleic acid sample preparation solutions, which are optimized for use with Affymetrix' GeneChip arrays.
- QIAGEN announced that it would be a key participant in a multi-company strategic alliance with SciQuest.com. This alliance combines the market leading product offerings of prominent companies supplying the life science industry into SciQuest.com's comprehensive electronic marketplace services to sell scientific and laboratory products.
- QIAGEN formed a joint venture with Becton Dickinson, called PreAnalytiX, to develop, manufacture and market integrated systems for collection, stabilization, and the purification of nucleic acids used in molecular diagnostic testing.
- The QIAamp viral RNA extraction technology, received approval in Germany for screening blood supplies in combination with Roche's Cobas Amplicor System.
- QIAGEN joined the Valentis-DSM biologics alliance (pAlliance) in the manufacturing and sales of Plasmid DNA.
- QIAGEN and Evotec formed a joint venture to develop and commercialize high-throughput systems for nucleic acid analysis.
During the year, QIAGEN experienced growth in all of its product segments, added significant new technologies and introduced 24 new products addressing nucleic acid extraction, purification, handling or amplification needs. In addition, the company grew to over 1,000 employees from approximately 800 at the end of 1998.
<%=company1%>, a Netherlands holding company with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, France, Australia and Canada, believes it is the world's leading provider of innovative enabling technologies and products for the separation, purification and handling of nucleic acids. The company has developed a comprehensive portfolio of more than 280 proprietary, consumable products for nucleic acid separation, purification and handling, nucleic acid amplification, as well as automated instrumentation and related services. QIAGEN's products are sold in more than 42 countries throughout the world to academic research markets and to leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. In addition, the Company is positioning its products for sale into developing commercial markets, including DNA sequencing and genomics, nucleic acid-based molecular diagnostics, and genetic vaccination and gene therapy. QIAGEN employs approximately 1,000 people worldwide.