Global food sales grew an average of 1.8% last year, hampered by price increases for most staple items, including milk, eggs, corn and wheat. Food producers have also been impacted by higher electricity and fuel costs, part of what one analyst described as a “perfect storm” for the industry. In 2007, Kraft spent $1.3 billion […]

R&D spending may be on the rise in Turkey due to a new measure that lets companies deduct all of their R&D spending from their tax base until 2024, an increase from the previously allowed 40% tax deduction. The law was passed to stimulate exports of technological products and to attract multinational R&D. To be […]

Company Announcements FEI and the Foundation for Fundamental Research of Matter announced a five-year, €2.7 million ($3.9 million) joint nanotechnology research project to develop electron microscopes and focused ion beam (FIB) systems for single-atom imaging and processing of material structures. FEI opened its fourth NanoPort center of technical and applications excellence in Shanghai, China, in […]

Bruker reported its full-year financial results following the publication of IBO’s quarterly sales issue (see IBO 2/29/08). The company also reported pro forma annual results that include Bruker BioSpin (see IBO 12/15/07), showing what to expect now that the companies have merged. Bruker’s fourth-quarter revenues grew 35.5%, 26% on a currency-neutral basis, to $183.7 million […]

Palo Alto, CA 4/7/08; Abingdon, UK 4/7/08—Varian has acquired Oxford Instruments’ spin out Oxford Diffraction for $37 million in cash and assumed net debt. Oxford Diffraction, of which Oxford Instruments held a 23% stake, develops and manufactures x-ray crystallography instrumentation for pharmaceutical research. The company posted revenues of $15 million for the year ended March […]

Company Announcements Environnement SA acquired Iséo, an environmental information systems company, in 2007, for €1 million ($1.4 million). Iséo had sales of €2.2 million ($2.8 million) in 2006. Ocimum Biosolutions raised $17 million from the Kubera Cross Border Fund in a Series B round of financing. Clemex Technologies announced in January that it is reviewing […]

San Diego, CA 4/3/08; Santa Clara, CA 4/14/08—Leading microarray provider Affymetrix has reduced its 2008 revenue guidance by approximately 3% to $409–$510 million from $505–$525 million, which would result in sales growth of 10%–37%. The company attributed the reduction to its expectations for lower research spending by pharmaceutical and industrial customers and stated it is […]

West Chester, PA 4/1/08—Laboratory product distributor VWR International has acquired Jencons (Scientific), a distributor with annual revenues of approximately $46 million. Based in the UK, Jencons has 110 employees and operations in Ireland, Kenya and North America. Terms were not disclosed. “Their emphasis on instrumentation and equipment will enhance our product and services offerings to […]

Company Announcements In January, Axela signed a North American distribution agreement with VWR for its dotLab system and reagents. BioForce Nanosciences President and COO Kerry Frey was named president and CEO in January, and former CEO Eric Henderson was named to the newly created position of chief science officer. OpGen appointed Noel Doheny CEO in […]