Suniva Awarded $5.7 Million in Clean Energy Manufacturing Tax Credits

(BUSINESS WIRE)--Suniva®, Inc., a U.S. based high-efficiency solar manufacturer, today announced it received $5.7 million in Recovery Act Advanced Manufacturing Tax Credits to expand its solar cell manufacturing facility in Norcross, GA.

“In little more than a year, Suniva built the capacity to produce hundreds of millions of dollars worth of solar technology, and we’ve created over 130 green jobs in the process”

Suniva started producing monocrystalline solar cells at its Norcross facility in October 2008 and now operates two solar cell production lines with an annual capacity of 100 MW. Currently, Suniva is preparing to construct its third manufacturing line in Norcross, which will increase production capacity by 75 percent and create more than 50 manufacturing jobs in 2010.

“In little more than a year, Suniva built the capacity to produce hundreds of millions of dollars worth of solar technology, and we’ve created over 130 green jobs in the process,” said Suniva CEO John Baumstark. “These tax credits enable us to continue expanding and supplying the rapidly growing American solar market with products developed in American laboratories and made by American workers.”

Suniva’s technology was developed through research conducted by Suniva founder and CTO Dr. Ajeet Rohatgi at the University Center for Excellence in Photovoltaics (UCEP), a U.S. Department of Energy-funded laboratory. Suniva’s solar cells and modules are installed globally in solar systems in the United States, Europe and Asia, including India’s first large-scale solar project located in West Bengal.

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Theragenics Corporation Establishes New Product Development Team

(BUSINESS WIRE)--Theragenics Corporation (NYSE: TGX), a medical device company serving the surgical products and prostate cancer treatment markets, today announced the hiring of Mr. Yem Chin as its Lead Product Development Engineer. Mr. Chin and his team will spearhead Theragenics’ new R&D “pipeline project.” The R&D team also includes Mr. Tom Johnson and Mr. Paul Scopton. Mr. Chin and the R&D team are charged with creating a pipeline of medical devices and sophisticated development services to support customers of the Company’s surgical products business segment. Mr. Chin has 40 years experience in medical device product development, including 28 years with Boston Scientific Corporation. He has been responsible for and supported developing products in the fields of interventional radiology, urology, gastro interventional, and cardiology. Mr. Chin holds over 50 patents related to medical devices.

The new R&D team will be supported by the entire asset base of Theragenics Corporation. Included in this asset base are the diverse processes and capabilities of Galt Medical, NeedleTech Products and CP Medical. These companies, which were acquired by Theragenics beginning in May 2005, comprise Theragenics’ surgical products business segment. This segment offers vascular access devices, specialty needle devices and wound closure products with applications in, among other areas, interventional cardiology, interventional radiology, vascular surgery, orthopedics, plastic surgery, dental, urology, veterinary, pain management, endoscopy, and spine. The team began operations October 1, 2008 in space leased near Boston, Massachusetts and is already working on, and is available to work on, products for all of the Company’s customers.

Ms. M. Christine Jacobs, Chairman and CEO commented, “We are fortunate to be able to attract product development engineers the caliber of Mr. Chin and his colleagues. We look forward to providing the customers of our surgical products business with an increased level of product development and speed to market.”

Tom Johnson has 35 years experience in the medical device industry. He has recently worked for Creganna Medical and has expertise in extrusion, mold design, process development and project management. Mr. Johnson holds over 20 patents to his credit.

Paul Scopton has 28 years experience in the medical device industry developing disposable interventional devices for use in interventional radiology, urology, endoscopy, and cardiology. Mr. Scopton has over 20 product launches and holds 5 patents to his credit.

Ms. Jacobs continued her comments, “Our recent acquisition of NeedleTech expanded our product offerings and our customer base of top tier medical device manufacturers. The addition of NeedleTech further accentuated an opportunity to more fully address the unmet needs of our customers. With a combined 103 years of medical device product and process development, we feel our new group is up to this task.”

Ms. Jacobs concluded, “With a focus on vascular access, specialty needles and wound closure markets, our new team provides significant development expertise that can offer our customers access to services they may lack, helping them to expedite line expansion. This R&D group will support our entire asset base and our dedication to high quality, U.S-based, medical device manufacturing. It is not our intent to compete with our customers. Instead, we intend to feed our manufacturing base with new product opportunities and growth. Mr. Chin and his colleagues, together with NeedleTech, Galt Medical, and CP Medical, give us this capability, supporting sustainable long-term growth in our surgical products segment.”

Theragenics Corporation (NYSE: TGX) operates two business segments: its surgical products business and its brachytherapy seed business. Its surgical products business (www.cpmedical.com, www.galtmedical.com, www.needletech.com) manufactures and distributes wound closure, vascular access, and specialty needle products. Wound closure products include sutures, needles and other surgical products. Vascular access includes introducers, guidewires and related products. Specialty needles include coaxial, biopsy, spinal and disposable veress needles, access trocars, and other needle based products. The Company’s surgical products segment serves a number of markets and applications, including, among other areas, interventional cardiology, interventional radiology, vascular surgery, orthopedics, plastic surgery, dental, urology, veterinary, pain management, endoscopy, and spine. The Company’s brachytherapy business manufactures and markets its premier product, the palladium-103 TheraSeed® device (www.theraseed.com) and I-Seed, an iodine-125 based device, which are used primarily in the minimally invasive treatment of localized prostate cancer. For additional information, call Theragenics’ Investor Relations Department at (800) 998-8479 or visit www.theragenics.com.

This press release contains forward looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the accuracy of which is necessarily subject to risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, statements regarding future growth, opportunities and investments, and anticipated positive results in general. Actual results may differ materially due to a variety of factors, including, among other things, uncertainties related to the integration of acquired companies into the Theragenics organization, capitalization on opportunities for growth within the Surgical Products business, ability to recognize value from areas of shared expertise, risks and uncertainties related to competition within the medical device industry, development and growth of new applications within the markets for wound closure, vascular access, specialty needles and, more broadly, medical devices, competition from other companies within the wound closure, vascular access, specialty needle and medical device markets, competition from other methods of treatment, new product development cycles, effectiveness and execution of marketing and sales programs, changes in product pricing, changes in costs of materials used in production processes, continued acceptance and demand of the Company’s products by the markets in which it operates, introduction and/or availability of competitive products by others, potential changes in third-party reimbursement, including Medicare reimbursement as administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), implementation of the new legislation by CMS, physician training, third-party distribution agreements, ability to execute on acquisition opportunities on favorable terms and successfully integrate any acquisitions, and other factors set forth from time to time in the Company’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

All forward looking statements and cautionary statements included in this document are made as of the date hereof based on information available to the Company as of the date hereof, and the Company assumes no obligation to update any forward looking statement or cautionary statement.

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Immucor Announces Record Fiscal First Quarter Results

PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Immucor, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLUD) , a global leader in providing automated instrument-reagent systems to the blood transfusion industry, today reported financial results for the fiscal first quarter ended August 31, 2008. Our first quarter 2009 results include the results of BioArray Solutions beginning August 4, 2008, the date the acquisition was consummated.

Revenue for the fiscal first quarter was a record $73.2 million, up 15% from $63.6 million in the same period last year. Of the $9.6 million total increase in revenues, approximately $7.3 million came from price increases in the United States, approximately $2.5 million came from sales increases including instrument revenues outside the United States, and approximately $2.0 million of the increase is due to the effect of the change in the Euro, Japanese Yen and Canadian dollar exchange rates. Partially offsetting these increases were volume decreases of approximately $2.2 million in the United States comprised of instrument increases of approximately $2.5 million offset by reagent decreases of approximately $3.2 million and a decrease in collagen revenues of approximately $1.5 million resulting from our previously announced decision to cease collagen production. Gross margin was 73.0% in the quarter compared to 72.1% in the prior year quarter.

Net income for the first quarter of fiscal 2009 was a record $20.0 million, up from $17.8 million for the same quarter last year. Diluted earnings per share totaled $0.28 on 71.2 million weighted average shares outstanding, as compared with $0.25 on 71.1 million weighted average shares outstanding for the same period last year.

Instrument revenue was $8.6 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2009, a 68% increase from $5.1 million in the fiscal 2008 first quarter. As of August 31, 2008, deferred instrument revenues, including deferred service revenues, totaled $23.9 million. The revenues on most instrument sales in the United States are recognized over the life of the underlying reagent contract, which is usually 5 years. However, we record the entire cost of sales on an instrument when our contractual obligations related to the sale of the instrument are completed.

Reagent gross margin excluding molecular immunohematology was 80.6% during the first quarter of fiscal 2009 and in the same period last year.

"We are very pleased with our record quarterly financial results and the number of Echo orders received in North America," said Dr. Gioacchino De Chirico, President and Chief Executive Officer. "In the first quarter we received a total of 124 Echo orders, 108 in North America and another 16 Echo orders in the rest of the world. We also received orders for 2 Galileo instruments in North America in the first quarter, and another 10 Galileo orders in the rest of the world for a total of 12 in the quarter." Commenting further, Dr. De Chirico stated, "All-time highs were achieved in revenues, and net income for the quarter as our strategies to grow our business and the execution of our plan once again generated outstanding results." As of August 31, 2008 the Company had received orders for a total of 586 Galileo instruments worldwide, including 323 in Europe, 259 in North America and 4 in Japan, and approximately 553 of these instruments were generating reagent revenues, an increase of 16 in the quarter. As of August 31, 2008 the Company had received orders for a total of 378 Echo instruments worldwide, including 67 in Europe, 304 in North America and 7 in Japan, and approximately 129 of these Echo instruments were generating reagent revenues which is an increase of 38 in the quarter."

Selected Highlights

-- Summary of Instrument Orders

Q1 2009 Orders Cumulative
Instrument N.A.(1) ROW(2) Total Orders (3)
Echo 108 16 124 378
Galileo 2 10 12 586

(1) N.A. - North America (the U.S. and Canada)
(2) ROW - all parts of the world other than North America.

(3) Cumulative Orders - total orders received since the launch of the instrument.

-- Sales of traditional reagent products (i.e. products not using the Company's patented Capture(R) technology), increased $4.2 million, or 9%, from $45.1 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2008 to $49.3 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2009. Sales of Capture products increased approximately $3.2 million to $15.2 million, a 27% increase over the prior year quarter.

-- The gross margin on traditional reagents was 78.7% for the first quarter of 2009, compared with 79.6% in the prior year quarter. The gross margin on Capture(R) products was 86.7% for the fiscal year 2009 first quarter, compared with 84.6% in the prior year quarter.

-- Instrument revenue totaled $8.6 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2009 compared to $5.1 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2008, an increase of 68%. The gross margin on instruments, including the impact of the cost of providing service, was 17.4% for the fiscal year 2009 first quarter, compared to a negative 4.1% for the same quarter last year.

-- The effect on revenues of the change in the Euro, Japanese Yen and Canadian dollar exchange rates was an increase of approximately $2.0 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2009 as compared to the prior year first quarter. The effect on net income of the change in the Euro, Japanese Yen and Canadian dollar exchange rates was an increase of approximately $0.4 million in the quarter ended August 31, 2008 as compared to the prior year quarter.

-- Distribution expenses increased by $0.8 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2009 as compared to the prior year quarter. Distribution costs were impacted in the United States by higher shipping costs of $0.2 million, higher salaries and benefits of $0.1 million, higher depreciation of $0.1 million, and higher rent and utilities of $0.1 million. New affiliates in France and the U.K. contributed $0.1 million of the increase.

-- Selling and marketing expenses increased by $1.9 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2009 as compared to the prior year quarter. Selling and marketing expenses in the United States other than those associated with BioArray increased $0.4 million primarily due to higher salaries. Japan contributed $0.2 million of the increase, BioArray contributed $0.2 million and costs associated with our new affiliates in France and the U.K. contributed $0.7 million.

-- General and administrative expenses increased by $1.6 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2009 as compared to the prior year quarter. General and administrative expenses were primarily impacted by additional costs of $0.7 million from our new affiliates in France and the U.K. and BioArray costs of $0.3 million. In the United States costs other than those associated with BioArray increased $0.3 million.

-- Research and development expenses decreased by $0.2 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2009 as compared to the prior year quarter primarily due to lower consulting fees of $0.4 million which were partially offset by BioArray which contributed $0.3 million in additional research and development expense.

-- Total BioArray operating expenses of $1.1 million included research and development costs of $0.3 million, selling and marketing expenses of $0.2 million, general and administration costs of $0.3 million, and amortization of $0.3 million.

-- Overall, operating expenses increased by $4.0 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2009 as compared to the prior year first quarter primarily as a result our new affiliates in France and the U.K. which contributed $1.5 million, BioArray which contributed $1.1 million, and $1.0 million due to the effect of the change in the Euro, Japanese Yen and Canadian dollar exchange rates. Partially offsetting these cost increases was a reduction of $0.5 million in restructuring costs.

-- The effective tax rate of 35.4% for the first quarter of fiscal 2009 was positively impacted by certain provision to return true-up adjustments totaling approximately $0.4 million that will not be recurring in future quarters of the fiscal year. Excluding these adjustments, the effective tax rate for the first quarter of fiscal 2009 would have been 36.6% compared to 36.4% in the prior year quarter.

-- Cash flow from operations was strong at $21.6 million in the quarter. Cash and cash equivalents decreased $86.0 million to $89.1 million at the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2009 compared to $175.1 million at May 31, 2008 primarily as a result of our BioArray acquisition, which the Company funded with $108.2 million of cash.

After incorporating BioArray in the previous guidance for the fiscal year ending May 31, 2009 as disclosed in its press release dated June 4, 2008, Immucor now expects fully diluted earnings per share in the range of $0.94 to $0.98 for fiscal year 2009. We continue to expect revenues for the fiscal year ending May 31, 2009 to range from $292 million to $300 million. Gross margin is expected to be in the range of 70% to 71%.

Immucor, Inc. will host a conference call October 2, 2008 at 8:30 AM (EDT) to review these results. Investors are invited to participate in this conference call with Dr. Gioacchino De Chirico, President and Chief Executive Officer; Richard A. Flynt, Chief Financial Officer; and Edward L. Gallup, consultant. The call will focus on the results for the first quarter and general business trends. This earnings release will be posted on Immucor's website, as well as any material financial information that may be discussed by Messrs. De Chirico, Flynt or Gallup during this call that is not contained in the earnings release. Both this earnings release and the additional financial information, if any, will be posted as soon as practicable after the call on the investor news section of Immucor's website. To access this information once posted, go to Immucor's website at www.immucor.com and click on "About Us - Press Releases."

To participate in the telephone conference call, dial 1-888-324-7567 pass code BLUD. Replays of the conference call will be available for one week beginning at 12:00 PM on October 2, 2008 by calling 1-800-337-5610. Beginning October 9, 2008, audio of the conference call or a transcript of the audio will be available on the "About Us - Press Releases" page of the Immucor website.

Founded in 1982, Immucor manufactures and sells a complete line of reagents and systems used by hospitals, reference laboratories and donor centers to detect and identify certain properties of the cell and serum components of blood prior to transfusion. Immucor markets a complete family of automated instrumentation for all of its market segments.

For more information on Immucor, please visit our website at www.immucor.com .

Statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact are "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined under federal securities laws, including, without limitation, all statements concerning Immucor's expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies for the future. Forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as "plans," "expects," "believes," "anticipates," "estimates," "projects," "will," "should" and other words of similar meaning used in conjunction with, among other things, discussions of future operations, financial performance, product development and new product launches, FDA and other regulatory applications and approvals, market position and expenditures. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statement include the following: lower than expected market acceptance of the Company's new Galileo Echo instrument; lower than expected market acceptance of the molecular diagnostic products produced by BioArray; the decision of customers to defer capital spending; the inability of customers to efficiently integrate our instruments into their blood banking operations; increased competition in the sale of instruments and reagents, particularly in North America; product development or regulatory obstacles, including obstacles related to the development of an automated instrument for the molecular diagnostic products produced by BioArray, and regulatory approval of that platform as well as the products currently produced by BioArray; the failure to effectively integrate BioArray operations into the Company's overall operations; the inability to hire and retain key managers; changes in interest rates; fluctuations in foreign currency conversion rates; the inability of the Company's Japanese and French subsidiaries to attain expected revenue, gross margin and net income levels; the outcome of any legal claims or regulatory investigations known or unknown, including intellectual property claims against BioArray; delays in regulatory approvals required to manufacture products previously produced in Houston; higher than expected manufacturing consolidation costs; the unexpected application of different accounting rules; and general economic conditions. In addition, the strengthening of the US Dollar versus the Euro, Canadian Dollar and Japanese Yen would adversely impact reported results. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Further risks are detailed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Immucor assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

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