Laboratory Automation: Company Announcements
In December 2006, SYSTAG AG, a provider of automated solutions for chemical process development, announced a management buyout of a majority share of the company. Tecan appointed Matthew Robin and Carl Severinghaus to its Group Executive Committee. Mr. Robin is responsible for the Liquid Handling and Robotics business unit. He was previously CEO of medical technology company Ypsomed. Mr. Severinghaus is worldwide manager of the newly created Direct Sales organization. He most recently managed Tecan US. TTP LabTech sales grew 35% in 2006. Under a strategic alliance announced in February, VWR International’s BioSciences program will offer Tecan’s microarray instruments and microplate readers. Alpha Innotech’s 2006 revenues grew 10% to $13.3 million due to increased sales to international distributors and GE Healthcare, but were offset by declining US sales (see page 12). Revenues from outside the US accounted for 43.9% of sales. CyBio AG’s 2006 revenues grew 8.2% to €15.5 million ($20.6 million). North American sales increased 18.0% to make up 45.4% of revenues, European sales rose 2.4% to represent 49.7% and Asian sales declined to 4.9% of revenues. Germany accounted for 21.6% of total sales. The instrument business accounted for approximately half of company revenues. In 2007, the company will continue to install and service Corning’s Epic system and expand its sales organization, setting up a subsidiary in Japan.