Evotec Q2 shows continued recovery

German biotech company Evotec OAI boosted its second quarter revenues by 18 per cent to €17 million, despite the difficult operating environment for companies supplying drug discovery technologies, continuing its recovery from a weak first quarter.

The company achieved earnings before interest and taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of €4.1 million, compared to €0.6 million last year. Evotec ended June with €13.0 million in cash.

The company stated the strength of its results reflected a general trend towards a recovery in the drug discovery marketplace, particularly in the US and Japan, with Europe following behind 'at some distance.'

"Although market conditions remain challenging, we expect the enhanced deal flow to translate into stronger sales over the remainder of the year, with higher capacity utilisation helping to improve gross margins,"said Joern Aldag, chief executive officer of Evotec

Evotec's Discovery and Development Services Division (DDS) achieved revenues of €27.1 million in the first six months of 2004. Revenues excluding third parties amounted to €2.5 million, including €2.4 million from delivering services to the DeveloGen joint venture.

Revenues in the Discovery Programs Division (DPD) amounted to €0.9 million for the first six months, unchanged from the end of the first quarter. First quarter revenues resulted from the collaboration between Evotec Neurosciences (ENS) and Takeda.

For the first six months of 2004, Evotec's Tools and Technologies Division achieved revenues of €6.8 million, compared to €7.2 million from last year.