euro adhoc: LION Bioscience AG
Restructuring & Recapitalisations /
LION bioscience Announces Realignment
Disclosure announcement transmitted by euro adhoc. The issuer is responsible for the content of this announcement.
Cambridge, MA, USA, Heidelberg, Germany, November 18, 2004 - LION bioscience AG (Nasdaq: LEON) today announced that the recently appointed Supervisory Board of LION bioscience AG has concluded together with LION´s Executive Board that the previously published operating forecast for the current and next fiscal year cannot be achieved.
As a result, the Supervisory Board is in agreement with LIONs Executive Board that a realignment of the business is necessary. The top priority is reaching and maintaining profitability for the fiscal year 2005/2006. Going forward, the company will be focused solely on profitable activities and shall have an optimized organizational structure.
The business areas for bioinformatics (core product SRS) and cheminformatics (core product LeadNavigator) shall be concentrated in the already existing subsidiaries headquartered in Cambridge, UK and Cambridge, MA, U.S., respectively. The Heidelberg office shall be reduced to host the core functions of a headquarter as well as staff assigned to the cheminformatics partnership with Bayer AG.
As part of the realignment, LION yesterday announced changes in the Executive Board of LION bioscience AG. In addition, the company plans to reduce the number of employees from 142 as of September 30, 2004 to around 50 to 70 employees in the course of FY 2005/2006. Restructuring costs will mainly occur in the current fiscal year.
This realignment of the company is designed to achieve two major goals. The first major goal is to assure LIONs profitability in fiscal year 2005/2006. The allocation of new funds to the core business units from the headquarter shall be done only if the unit is profitable. The second major goal is to increase transparency for investors through a better description of LION´s assets. Currently, the companys main assets, like the market leading SRS-System, are not adequately reflected in the companys share price.
end of announcement euro adhoc 18.11.2004 06:30:00
Further inquiry note:
Günther Dielmann
Tel.: +49 (0)6221 4038 249
E-Mail: guenter.dielmann@lionbioscience.com
Branche: Pharmaceuticals
ISIN: DE0005043509
WKN: 504350
Index: Nemax 50, Prime Standard, TecDAX
Börsen: Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse / regulated dealing
New York / regulated dealing
Berliner Wertpapierbörse / free trade
Hamburger Wertpapierbörse / free trade
Baden-Württembergische Wertpapierbörse / free trade
Börse Düsseldorf / free trade
Niedersächsische Börse zu Hannover / free trade
Bayerische Börse / free trade
Bremer Wertpapierbörse (BWB) / free trade