• Net sales for the period amounted to SEK 47.8 M (50.7)
• Profit after tax was SEK 16.5 M (21.0)
• Earnings per share after tax totaled SEK 1.44 (1.86)
• Operating profit amounted to SEK 22.5 M (29.0)
• Cash flow from operating activities was SEK 16.9 M (32.7)
Johan Löf, President and CEO of RaySearch Laboratories AB, comments on the first nine months of the year as follows:
“On a quarterly basis, an increase in sales and earnings is now noticeable again. During the third quarter, sales increased 13 percent and net profit by 20 percent compared with the year-earlier period. However, the poor results noted in the second quarter had a highly adverse impact on trends during the first nine months of the year. Since our range of products is increasing steadily and our established products still have considerable future potential, our view of growth development is optimistic.
It was extremely gratifying being able to announce just over two weeks ago that the agreement with Philips pertaining to adaptive radiation therapy has been finalized. Although the negotiations had been unexpectedly protracted, this was one of the most important milestones in RaySearch’s history. We are now entering into cooperation with Philips, during which we will jointly develop the next generation of treatment-planning systems for adaptive radiation therapy. Within the framework of this cooperation, three products will be developed. Adaptive radiation therapy enhances geometrical precision by taking into account changes in the patient’s anatomy during the actual treatment. This greater precision facilitates the supply of higher doses to the tumor and simultaneously reduces the risk of side effects.
Philips occupies a leading position in the treatment-planning market and the two companies’ cooperation within intensity modulated radiation therapy, IMRT, has been a major factor in RaySearch’s healthy development. In view of this, we have great hopes that the joint development project that is now being started will also be successful. I would again like to point out that adaptive radiation therapy will be an area of vital importance to RaySearch’s continued expansion.
We expect our continued cooperation with Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto in the field of adaptive radiation therapy will result in a valuable exchange. A long-term research agreement was signed during the quarter. We are currently intensifying this cooperation and look forward to jointly being able to develop effective new treatment methods.
At the beginning of the year, RaySearch and Scanditronix-Wellhöfer entered into cooperation concerning new products for the quality assurance of IMRT. The system, which has been named COMPASS, was demonstrated last week for doctors and physicians from various parts of the world at ASTRO, the annual radiation therapy meeting, which was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the US. COMPASS is a revolutionary system for faster and more thorough quality assurance of radiation treatments. The conventional quality-assurance method is both time-consuming and costly. We were gratified by the favorable reactions our demonstrations received at the fair.
Today, we are pleased to announce that RaySearch and Nucletron are now initiating cooperation in treatment planning of proton radiation therapy of cancer. The companies entered into a long-term development and license agreement today that will result in a pioneering system for treatment planning and optimization of radiation therapy with protons. This cooperation is in line with RaySearch’s business concept to provide innovative software for radiation therapy of cancer. This advanced application fits well with our expertise profile and will contribute to a broadening of the ORBIT platform with ground-breaking functionality. Nucletron is contributing the background knowledge within the physics of protons, which is extremely valuable.”
Stockholm, November 16, 2006
RaySearch Laboratories AB
Johan Löf, CEO
For further information, contact:
Johan Löf, CEO
RaySearch Laboratories AB
Telephone: +46 (0)8-545 061 30
johan.lof@raysearchlabs.com
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