Albany Molecular Research, Inc. announced that total revenue for the fourth quarter of 2008 was $56.4 million, an increase of $9.2 million or 19%, compared to the fourth quarter of 2007. GAAP net income totaled $3.1 million or $0.10 per basic and diluted share, compared to net loss of ($0.8) million or ($0.03) per basic and diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2007. GAAP net income for the full year of 2008 was $20.6 million or $0.65 per diluted share, compared to net income of $8.9 million or $0.27 per diluted share in the previous year, a 130% increase.
AMRI Chairman, President and CEO Thomas E. D’Ambra commented, “2008 was a year of significant achievement and success for the AMRI organization. The company achieved marked improvement in all three components of its contract services business, in both contract revenue and gross margin. AMRI’s research and development activities also culminated in several notable accomplishments, including two IND filings in 2008, one as part of our program licensed to Bristol-Myers Squibb and the other as a result of our own internal research program. Our BMS collaboration resulted in generating $5.5 million in milestone revenue in 2008, demonstrating AMRI’s ability to generate revenue and strong financial returns from our R&D activities.”
Dr. D’Ambra added, “The settlement of our Allegra® related litigation with Teva Pharmaceuticals and Barr Laboratories, as well as the extension of our long term manufacturing supply agreement with our largest customer, has removed two risk factors from our business. The resolution of these items provides the opportunity for increased long term stability in AMRI’s cash flows and business performance from our already strong financial position. Looking forward, while the current economic environment and capital markets will likely impact our 2009 growth, we remain optimistic about the long term opportunity in the outsourcing market. Given the strength of our global footprint and research and development portfolio, in addition to a strong balance sheet, we feel we are well positioned to further enhance our market position.”
Providing contract revenue and EPS guidance for the first quarter and full year 2009, Chief Financial Officer Mark T. Frost stated, “In the first quarter, we expect contract revenue to range from $40 million to $42 million. As we experienced in 2008, we expect customer delivery patterns to impact our quarterly revenue, and therefore anticipate the majority of our 2009 growth to occur in the remaining quarters of 2009. For the full year 2009, we expect contract revenue to range from $197 million to $207 million, an increase of up to 6% versus 2008, and demand for our Large Scale manufacturing business to be the largest contributor to full year revenue growth.”
Mr. Frost continued, “With regard to our royalty revenues from worldwide sales of Allegra® and certain generic forms of Allegra®, we expect first quarter royalties of approximately $9.0 to $10.0 million and full year 2009 royalties of approximately $31.0 to $34.0 million. For the first quarter we expect EPS to range from ($0.01) to $0.02. For the full year we expect EPS to range from $0.40 to $0.46. Our guidance excludes any revenue from milestone payments from our collaboration with BMS as well as any upfront license fee revenue from potential new collaborations; these items contributed approximately $11 million in revenue and $0.22 EPS in 2008.”
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