Tecan boosts profit

Tecan's headquarters in Männedorf in canton Zurich Keystone

Business is booming for laboratory systems group Tecan: net profit rose 14.3 per cent to SFr45.1 million ($26.54 million) in 2001.

The canton Zurich-based company also announced on Wednesday that it proposed raising its dividend to SFr0.45 per share from SFr0.35. Sales rose by 32.3 per cent to SFr361.9 million.

Shares in the group pushed up 12.6 per cent in early trading on the Swiss Stock Exchange at SFr91 after falling 5 per cent on Tuesday ahead of the results. Bank Sarasin decided to upgrage the company’s stock from “hold” to “buy”.

“The merits of our business model were clearly evident in 2001. Tecan continued to outperform the industry and delivered outstanding results for the year in a challenging market environment,” commented Emile Sutcliffe, chief executive of the Tecan Group.

“Tecan’s strong product portfolio, balanced presence in all key market segments of the Life Sciences, and effective distribution channels will allow us to build further on this outstanding performance.”

Beating forecasts

The 2001 profit was above an average forecast by five analysts of SFr43.4 million, while sales were also slightly higher than forecast of SFr360 million.

Profit in 2000 was SFr39.5 million, and sales in 2000 were SFr273.5 million.

Tecan said it expected to hit sales of SFr500 million by 2003, two years earlier than originally planned.

The company also said that sales in the fourth quarter of 2002 would slow to between SFr90-100 million from SFr103.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2001, reflecting seasonal patterns.

swissinfo with agencies