Zurich, Switzerland, November 1st, 2006 – Tecan, a leading manufacturer of products and solutions for the biopharmaceutical, clinical diagnostic and forensic industries, today reported continuing strong results for the third quarter and first nine months of 2006. Building on the strong results achieved during the first half of 2006, consolidated nine months sales reached CHF 295.5 million, an increase of 24.9% over the same period last year while EBIT rose from CHF 12.1 million (5.1% of sales) to CHF 34.2 million (11.6% of sales). Net profit increased from CHF 6.3 million (2.7% of sales) to CHF 26.2 million (8.9% of sales).

Contributing to the overall revenues with a total amount of CHF13.1 million was a major project in the forensics market. In addition, during the first six months of the year CHF 19.4 million were contributed by the REMP group, which was acquired in June 2005. As of July 1 2005, REMP’s results are fully consolidated into Tecan’s figures. For the first nine months, currency effects contributed 1.6% to the revenue development.

Compared to the third quarter of 2005, which saw both strong organic growth and the initial inclusion of REMP in the group figures, Tecan’s sales rose by 2.8% (3.5% in local currency). Year-over-year EBIT grew from CHF 3.3 million to CHF 11.1 million and net profit increased from CHF 1.8 million to CHF 8.6 million. Correspondingly for the third quarter, EBIT margin expanded from 3.6% to 11.7% while net profit margins grew from 1.9% to 9.1%

Revenue growth during the first nine months was primarily driven by Tecan’s European and Asian markets as well as by the Detection and Biopharma business areas.

“We were glad to observe that we were able to continue the positive trends in revenues and profitability also into the third quarter of 2006 and that our ongoing operational efforts are becoming effective. This was also reflected in the significant increase in EPS we were able to achieve” commented Thomas Bachmann, Chief Executive Officer of Tecan.

Strong expansion in profitability & EPS

For the first nine months of 2006, Tecan was able to increase EBIT from CHF 12.1 million to CHF 34.2 million corresponding to an EBIT margin increase from 5.1% to 11.6%. The strong EBIT development was driven mainly by the ongoing measures to improve operational efficiency, including Tecan’s global sourcing program, as well as generally higher capacity utilization across the group.

During the same period, net profit also continued to build on the positive results achieved during the first half of the year and expanded from CHF 6.3 million (2.7% of sales) to CHF 26.2 million (8.9% of sales). This result was also impacted by the improved financial result for the period.

For the first nine months, EPS rose to CHF 2.28 from CHF 0.58 during the same period in 2005.

Order entry for the quarter amounted to CHF 105.5 million, an increase of 27.8% (28.7% in local currency) compared to the same period last year. Year to date, order entry rose 28% (26.4% in local currency) to CHF 298.0 million.

Outlook

For the full year 2006, Tecan continues to expect that sales, operating profit and cash flow will exceed the figures for the previous year.

Next important date

The Annual Report for the 2006 fiscal year will be published on March 13th, 2007.

About Tecan

Tecan (www.tecan.com) is a leading global player in the Life Sciences supply industry specializing in the development, production, and distribution of advanced automation solutions enabling drug discovery, genomics, proteomics and diagnostics. Through its REMP subsidiary (www.remp.com), Tecan is the leading supplier of compound and sample storage, management and logistics solutions. Tecan clients are pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, university research departments and diagnostic laboratories. Founded in Switzerland in 1980, the company has manufacturing, research and development sites in both North America and Europe and maintains a sales and service network in 52 countries. In 2005, Tecan achieved sales of CHF 344.9 million (USD 275.9 million; EUR 222.5 million). Registered shares of Tecan Group are traded on the SWX Swiss Exchange (TK: TECN / Reuters: TECZn.S / Valor: 1210019).

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For further information please contact:

Rudolf Eugster
Chief Financial Officer

Christopher Hanan
Senior Vice President
Head, Business Development
& Corporate Communications

T +41 44 922 84 30
F +41 44 922 88 89
investor@tecan.com
www.tecan.com