Farfield Group Press Releases

01 Mar 2010 - FARFIELD GROUP LTD JOINS BIOLIN SCIENTIFIC

Biolin Scientific has agreed to acquire the analytical instruments provider Farfield Group. The acquisition of Farfield complements Biolin Scientific’s product portfolio and provides new application opportunities in bioscience. The main motivation for the acquisition is to substantially increase sales and profitability of Farfield products, by combining it with Biolin Scientific resources in international sales and distribution.

Biolin Scientific AB (publ) (“Biolin Scientific”) of Sweden has agreed to acquire all outstanding shares in Farfield Group Ltd (“Farfield”) of England. The acquisition transaction is scheduled to be completed on April 1, 2010, from which date Farfield will be consolidated in the Biolin Scientific group.

Comments
Dr Gerry Ronan, CEO of Farfield also commented “Over the past ten years, Farfield’s technology has become recognized as an invaluable research tool for biophysics with an installed base in 19 countries. We believe there is significant further potential still to be explored particularly in the fields of protein research and are delighted to become a product company within the Biolin Scientific group. This will allow us to focus on the long term development of our technology and applications”.

“Farfield has a competent organization with good products based on a unique technology which is a logical complement to our product portfolio. We think that Farfield products should be of value and interest to a significant proportion of our existing customer base and also provides us with strategically important application opportunities in the field of biochemical research. We expect to be able to increase sales of Farfield products substantially, integrating it with our own international sales and distribution organization.” says Fredrik Lindgren, CEO of Biolin Scientific.

Farfield’s management and employees will continue their employment after the acquisition to form a separate product organization within the Biolin Scientific group operating under the Farfield brand. In the short-term, Biolin Scientific sales organisation will take over sales and distribution of Farfield products in the US, UK and Nordic markets. During 2010, Biolin Scientific will also secure the distribution of Farfield products in a number of international markets where Farfield is currently not represented and in all other markets, Biolin Scientific will continue the co-operation with Farfield’s current distribution partners.

About Farfield Products and Technology
Farfield‘s products are scientific instruments based on its patented technology, Dual Polarization Interferometry (DPI). DPI is a highly sensitive technique to detect and monitor molecular changes occurring on a surface. Application scope for DPI ranges from advanced material science to biophysics and biochemistry. Examples of applications are cell membrane models, conformational change of proteins, biocompatibility studies and structural properties of macromolecules. The list of scientific publications based on DPI recently exceeded 100. Farfield’s product range consists of several analytical instrument models and a range of consumable sensors.

About Biolin Scientific
Biolin Scientific creates, makes and sells analytical instruments for the use in research, development, quality control and diagnostics. The mission is to contribute to the progress of science and technology, and thereby participate in the development of better healthcare, living standards and environmental conditions.

Biolin Scientific products are high-tech, precision analytical instruments based on advanced measurement techniques. The core application area for our products is nanotechnology, applied to bioscience and materials R&D. The product portfolio is diversified over five different product groups and brands:
- Q-Sense, www.q-sense.com
- KSV, www.ksvltd.com
- Nima Technology, www.nima.co.uk
- Attension, www.attension.com
- Osstell, www.osstell.com

Biolin Scientific customers are primarily researchers within academic research, research institutes, or industrial labs. The customers produce world-class research and develop technologies that are used in novel products. They have published thousands of peer review scientific articles based on the use of our products and technologies. In the list of customers are 96 % of the top 100 universities for natural sciences in the world, alongside some of the world’s most renowned product and engineering companies in that same customer list.

Biolin Scientific is an international business with its head-quarters in Göteborg, Sweden. The group consists of five product companies that are focused on the development of their respective brands and technologies. The products are made by the internal production organization in Finland. Customers are served directly through our own sales organization in the US, UK and the Nordic countries. In an additional 70 geographical markets throughout the world, distribution is secured through a network of more than 50 distribution partners. In all, Biolin Scientific has 70 employees in Maryland, Connecticut and California in the US, in Coventry in the UK, in Göteborg and Stockholm in Sweden, in Helsinki in Finland and in Shanghai in China.

In 2009, net sales reached SKr 137 million and EBITDA margin was 12 %. The Biolin Scientific share is listed on the Nasdaq OMX stock exchange in Sweden and the company has more than 4 500 shareholders.


CONTACT for Farfield: COMPANY INFORMATION
Crewe Business Park
Gerry Ronan Electraway
CEO of Farfield Group Southmere Court
+44 805-950-9717 Crewe Cheshire CW1 6GU
United Kingdom
gronan@farfield-group.com Telephone: +44 805-950-9717
Fax: +44 805-950-9717
E-mail: info@farfield-group.com
Web: www.farfield-group.com


CONTACT for Bolin COMPANY INFORMATION
Fredrik Lindgren Biolin Scientific AB (publ)
CEO of Biolin Scientific AB (publ) Hängpilsgatan 7
+46 705-61 61 77 SE-426 77 Västra Frölunda
fredrik.lindgren@biolinscientific.com Sweden
Telephone: +46 31 769 7690
Fax: +46 31 69 80 40
PRODUCTS Company number: 556249-4293
www.q-sense.com E-mail: info@biolinscientific.com
www.ksvltd.com Web: www.biolinscientific.com
www.nima.co.uk
www.attension.com THE SHARE
www.osstell.com Nasdaq OMX Small Cap in Sweden
Stock ticker: BLIN

BIOLIN SCIENTIFIC IN BRIEF
Biolin Scientific is an analytical instruments provider focused on the nano-scale study of interfaces within materials research and bioscience. Our customers are scientists and researchers in academic research, research institutes and the industrial sector.