Sound Financial Foundation to Support Increased R&D Investment
Press Conference Call (in German) Today At 09:30 am CET
Conference Call and Webcast of the Analyst Meeting and Press
Conference Today At 02:00 pm CET (01:00 pm GMT; 08:00 am EST)
MARTINSRIED, Germany, Feb. 26, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MorphoSys AG (Frankfurt:MOR) (Prime Standard Segment; TecDAX) today announced its financial results according to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for the three-months' period and financial year ending December 31, 2008. The Company achieved Group revenues of EUR 71.6 million (2007: EUR 62.0 million) and more than doubled its operating profit to EUR 16.4 million (2007: EUR 7.0 million). The Research Antibodies segment AbD made the all-important transition to profitability in 2008. Group net profit after taxes increased to EUR 13.2 million (2007: EUR 11.5 million). At the end of the year 2008 MorphoSys's cash position amounted to EUR 137.9 million (2007: EUR 106.9 million).
Highlights of the Year 2008:
* First Proprietary Program Enters Clinical Trials: Lead program MOR103 successfully completed a phase 1 trial in healthy volunteers. * Strengthening of Proprietary Pipeline: Co-development agreement with Galapagos to develop therapeutic antibodies against novel disease targets. Start of a first pre-development program within the Novartis Alliance. * Strong Growth of Partnered Drug Pipeline: First partnered compound enters phase 2 clinical trials during the year. Substantial growth of partnered pipeline to 55 active therapeutic antibody projects (up from 50 at the end of 2007); number of preclinical candidates increased to 29 (up from 23 at the end of 2007). Overall pipeline progress resulted in milestone payments of EUR 9.9 million (2007: EUR 12.1 million). * Strong Base of Partnerships: Renewal and extension of four therapeutic partnerships, namely Astellas Pharma, Daiichi Sankyo, OncoMed Pharmaceuticals and Schering-Plough as well as a research collaboration with Shionogi. * AbD Segment: Operating profitability achieved; appointment of Dieter Feger as new head of the unit. * Management: Dr. Arndt Schottelius appointed as Chief Development Officer, to lead the Company's expanding therapeutic development activities. * Increased R&D activities: Increased investment in proprietary drug and technology development; up by 26 % year-on-year to EUR 7.7 million. * Technology: New antibody library HuCAL PLATINUM unveiled
"The year 2008 has been a tremendous success for MorphoSys", stated Dr. Simon Moroney, Chief Executive Officer of MorphoSys AG. "Our pipeline of HuCAL-derived drugs is advancing well, and our financial strength is enabling us to channel more investment into our very promising proprietary programs. I'm delighted that we have been able to strengthen the Company's management during the year, and am convinced that we are well-positioned to perform well on both sides of the business in 2009."
"Our solid financial position and operational profitability uniquely position us in today's difficult capital market environment," commented Dave Lemus, Chief Financial Officer of MorphoSys AG. "Moreover, based on committed revenue streams from our broad portfolio of long-term partnerships allied with our strong balance sheet, the company is ideally positioned to increase its proprietary R&D activities, and to build long-term shareholder value."
Financial Review for the fiscal year 2008 (IFRS):
Group revenues for the full year 2008 amounted to EUR 71.6 million (2007: EUR 62.0 million), an increase of 16 % over the prior year. Measured in constant currency terms, total revenues would have amounted to EUR 73.1 million. Revenues arising from the Therapeutic Antibodies segment accounted for 75 % or EUR 53.4 million of total revenues. The AbD research antibody segment generated 25 % or EUR 18.2 million of total revenues. MorphoSys's overall revenue growth was primarily driven by higher levels of funded research and licensing fees.
Total operating expenses for the full year 2008 were EUR 55.2 million (2007: EUR 54.9 million), representing a slight increase over the prior year. Cost of goods sold (COGS), amounted to EUR 7.1 million (2007: EUR 7.9 million). Research and development expenses rose by EUR 5.4 million to EUR 27.6 million in 2008 (2007: EUR 22.2 million). The increase in R&D expenses mainly resulted from higher expenses for product and technology development amounting to EUR 7.7 million (2007: EUR 6.1 million). Sales, general and administrative expenses decreased by EUR 4.3 million to EUR 20.5 million (2007: EUR 24.8 million). This change was mainly caused by lower costs for external services. Non-cash charges related to stock-based compensation are embedded in COGS, S,G&A and R&D expenses and amounted to EUR 1.0 million (2007: EUR 1.4 million).
Total operating profit more than doubled to EUR 16.4 million (2007: EUR 7.0 million). AbD achieved an operating result of EUR 0.4 million, its first annual profit. The targeted profit margin of 5 % for the unit was not achieved, primarily due to a non-cash impairment charge relating to the former Biogenesis UK facility in Poole, UK of EUR 0.5 million. The operating result for the Therapeutic Antibodies segment amounted to EUR 25.6 million (2007: EUR 15.2 million). Unallocated corporate costs in 2008 amounted to EUR 9.5 million (2007: unallocated costs of EUR 7.6 million).
Non-operating expenses, including taxes, amounted in 2008 to EUR 3.2 million (2007: Non-operating income of EUR 4.5 million). For the full year 2008 MorphoSys realized a net profit of EUR 13.2 million compared to a net profit of EUR 11.5 million in the previous year.
On December 23, 2008, MorphoSys implemented a 3-for-1 stock split, as resolved in the 2008 AGM, and the number of shares issued at December 31, 2008 was therefore 22,478,787 shares, compared to a pro-forma figure of 22,160,259 at December 31, 2007. The resulting diluted earnings per share for the year 2008 amounted to EUR 0.59, compared to a pro-forma diluted earnings per share of EUR 0.53 in 2007.
On December 31, 2008, the Company had EUR 137.9 million in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities, compared to the EUR 106.9 million as of December 31, 2007. Funds are held in three German financial institutions, predominantly in short-term maturity money funds and short-term deposit accounts.
Fourth Quarter of 2008 (IFRS):
In the fourth quarter of 2008, the Company generated revenues of EUR 18.3 million, compared to EUR 17.9 million in the same quarter of 2007, an increase of 2 %. Total operating expenses amounted to EUR 17.1 million, compared to EUR 17.7 million in the same quarter of 2007. The decrease of operating expenses was mainly due to lower consulting fees in connection with the Novartis deal in 2007. This effect was partly offset by higher product and technology development costs. The resulting operating profit amounted to EUR 1.3 million (2007: EUR 0.1 million). Net profit for the fourth quarter 2008 was EUR 1.4 million, compared to EUR 6.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2007, which included deferred tax income in the amount of EUR 4.1 million mainly relating to capitalization of tax loss carry-forwards.
Financial Outlook for 2009:
For 2009, MorphoSys anticipates total revenues of EUR 80 million to EUR 85 million, major progress in advancing its product pipeline, and profitability. Backed by its sound financial position and its strong positive cash flows, MorphoSys plans to more than double its investments in technology and product development to between EUR 18 million and EUR 20 million. Proprietary activities are expected to represent approximately half of the total R&D spending of the Group. If fully and timely executed this strong investment in proprietary R&D would leave the Company in 2009 with a comfortable operating profit in the range of EUR 8 million to EUR 11 million. By the end of 2009 the Company expects its partnered and proprietary pipeline to comprise up to 8 compounds in clinical trials, thereof at least 3 antibodies in phase 2. MorphoSys's management team will provide more detailed outlook in today's press conference and conference call.
MorphoSys will hold its analyst meeting and press conference today in Frankfurt to present the Annual Financial Results 2008 and the Outlook 2009.
Dial-in number for the press conference call (in German) at 09:30 am:
Germany: +49 (0)69 710491462
Dial-in number for the analyst meeting and press conference at 02:00 pm CET; 01:00 pm GMT; 08:00 am EST (listen-only):
Germany: +49 (0)69 710491462 For UK residents: +44 (0)1212 604860 For US residents: +1 (1) 866 347 1957
Please dial in 10 minutes before the beginning of the conference.
In addition, MorphoSys offers participants the opportunity to follow the presentation through a simultaneous slide presentation online at http://www.morphosys.com.
A live webcast, slides, webcast replay and transcript will be made available at http://www.morphosys.com. Approximately two hours after the press conference, a slide-synchronized audio replay of the conference will be available on http://www.morphosys.com.
About MorphoSys:
MorphoSys is a publicly traded biotechnology company focused on the generation of fully human antibodies as a means to discover and develop innovative antibody-based drugs against life-threatening diseases. MorphoSys's goal is to establish HuCAL as the technology of choice for antibody generation in research, diagnostics and therapeutic applications. The Company currently has therapeutic and research alliances with the majority of the world largest pharmaceutical companies including Boehringer Ingelheim, Centocor/Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co., Novartis, Pfizer and Roche. Within these partnerships, more than 50 therapeutic antibody programs are ongoing in which MorphoSys participates through exclusive license and milestones payments as well as royalties on any end products. Additionally, MorphoSys is active in the antibody research market through its AbD Serotec business unit. The business unit has operations in Germany (Munich), the U.S. (Raleigh, NC) and U.K. (Oxford). For further information please visit http://www.morphosys.com/
HuCAL(r), HuCAL GOLD(r) and HuCAL PLATINUM(r) are registered trademarks of MorphoSys AG
This communication contains certain forward-looking statements concerning the MorphoSys group of companies. The forward-looking statements contained herein represent the judgment of MorphoSys as of the date of this release and involve risks and uncertainties. Should actual conditions differ from the Company's assumptions, actual results and actions may differ from those anticipated. MorphoSys does not intend to update any of these forward-looking statements as far as the wording of the relevant press release is concerned.
This announcement was originally distributed by Hugin. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
http://hugin.info/130295/R/1293434/293003.pdf, http://hugin.info/130295/R/1293434/293005.pdf