HOLLISTON, Mass., July 21, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Harvard Bioscience, Inc. (Nasdaq:HBIO), a global developer, manufacturer and marketer of a broad range of specialized products used to advance life science research, today announced that on June 26, 2009 it was added to the Russell 2000(R) Index following the Russell Investment Group's annual reconstitution of its comprehensive set of U.S. and global equity indexes.
Annual reconstitution of Russell's U.S. indexes captures the 4,000 largest U.S. stocks as of the end of May, ranking them by total market capitalization. Russell determines membership for its equity indexes primarily by objective, market-capitalization rankings and style attributes.
"We are pleased with Harvard Bioscience's inclusion in the Russell 2000," said David Green, President of Harvard Bioscience. "We expect this addition will generate increased interest in our stock and further broaden our profile among those investors who utilize the Russell indexes in making their investment decisions."
Russell indexes are widely used by investment managers and institutional investors for index funds and as benchmarks for both passive and active investment strategies. An industry-leading $4 trillion in assets currently are benchmarked to them. These investment tools originated from Russell's multi-manager investment business in the early 1980s when the company saw the need for a more objective, market-driven set of benchmarks in order to evaluate outside investment managers.
About Harvard Bioscience
Harvard Bioscience is a global developer, distributor, manufacturer and marketer of a broad range of specialized products, primarily apparatus and scientific instruments, used to advance life science research at pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, universities and government laboratories worldwide. HBIO sells its products to thousands of researchers in over 100 countries primarily through its 900 page catalog (and various other specialty catalogs), its website and through its distributors, including GE Healthcare, Thermo Fisher Scientific and VWR. HBIO has sales and manufacturing operations in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Spain with additional facilities in France and Canada. For more information, please visit www.harvardbioscience.com.
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The statements made in this press release that are not statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those factors set forth under the heading "Item 1A. Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2008 or described in the Company's other public filings. The Company's results may also be affected by factors of which the Company is not currently aware. The Company may not update these forward-looking statements, even though its situation may change in the future, unless it has obligations under the federal securities laws to update and disclose material developments related to previously disclosed information.