Danish allergy vaccines producer ALK-Abello A/S close in vitro diagnostics unit

Nordic Business Report, Dec 11, 2006

NORDIC BUSINESS REPORT-11 December 2006-Danish allergy vaccines producer ALK-Abello A/S close in vitro diagnostics unit(C)1994-2006 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD http://www.m2.com

Danish allergy vaccines producer ALK-Abello A/S said on Monday (11 December) that it has decided to close its in vitro diagnostics unit in Stenlose in Denmark.

The Stenlose unit supplies allergy tests for blood sample-based analyses to Bayer Diagnostics.

"ALK-Abello does not expect that Bayer Diagnostics will have sufficient long-term interest in the allergy field, as the company was recently acquired by Siemens Medical Solutions which also owns a competing testing company that has a much greater market share," ALK-Abello said in a statement.

The closing down of the business unit is expected to reduce the operating profit for 2006 by DKK40m, primarily due to inventory write-downs and provisions. This means that the September-December period is expected to result in an operating loss of DKK30m, as compared to a previously forecast operating profit of DKK10m.

ALK-Abello, headquartered in Horsholm in Denmark, is a world-leading producer of allergy vaccines. It has more than 1,200 employees and subsidiaries in several European countries, as well as the USA and China. ALK-Abello is listed on the Nordic Exchange in Copenhagen.

One British pound (GBP) is worth approximately 11.08 Danish kroner (DKK).

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