Celera Reports Bigger Loss
Justin Gillis and Terence Chea / Washington Post
27oct00
Celera Genomics Corp. of Rockville said it lost $26 million for the three months that ended Sept. 30, compared with a loss of $19 million for the same period a year earlier. The company attributed the rising loss to heavy investment as it continues expanding its products and building a sales force.
The company said revenue for the quarter rose sharply, to more than $18 million this year from $8 million in 1999. It said the revenue gain reflects its success in selling new subscriptions to an array of genetic databases. Celera's business involves analyzing the complete genetic maps of human and important research organisms, then charging drug companies and academic laboratories for access to the databases.
"In just over two years since its inception, Celera has made incredible strides in building the definitive reference source of genomic information," Tony L. White, chief executive of PE Corp., said in a statement. PE, of Norwalk, Conn., is Celera's parent company. Though Celera is a wholly owned subsidiary of PE, it is represented on the New York Stock Exchange by its own stock, traded under the symbol CRA, and its financial results are reported separately. The quarter that ended in September is the first quarter of the company's budget year.
Another Rockville biotechnology company fared better during the quarter, as BioReliance Corp. reported net income of $370,000, or 4 cents per share, for its third quarter, a 64 percent increase over the same period of 1999, when it earned $226,000 (3 cents).
The biological testing and manufacturing company said revenue for the three months ended Sept. 30 rose 15 percent, to $14.3 million from $12.4 million.
For the first nine months of the year, the company earned $800,000 (10 cents), compared with a loss of $1.2 million for the same period in 1999. Revenue rose to $41.6 million from $34.6 million.
During the third quarter, BioReliance was selected to manufacture smallpox vaccine for the military. It also reached an agreement to work with Massachusetts biopharmaceutical company OraVax Inc. to make 40 million doses of a smallpox vaccine for civilians.
