annual report  
and accounts 2008
annual report and accounts 2008
332 cambridge science park
cambridge
cb4 0wn
uk
email ordersabcamcom
phone 44 01223 696000
fax 44 01223 696001 01 highlights
02 our business at a glance
04 our internet platform
06 chairman’s review
08 chief executive  
officer’s review
10 managing director’s review
12 financial review
14 board of directors
16 corporate directory
17 directors’ report
19 corporate governance
21 directors’ remuneration 
report
24 statement of directors’ 
responsibilities
25 independent auditors’ 
report
26 consolidated income  
statement
27 consolidated statement of 
recognised income and 
expense
28 consolidated balance sheet
29 company balance sheet
30 consolidated cash flow 
statement
31 company cash flow  
statement
32 notes to the consolidated 
financial statements
our vision is to build the largest 
online antibody resource in the 
world while also ensuring that 
the antibodies are of excellent 
quality and commercial viability
welcome
my name is molly i’m the resident abcam mascot and 
appear on all our packaging and branded materials
a lot of researchers ask where we got the idea for molly  
the sheep it was simply because dolly the sheep was  
making headline news at the time so we created the  
body out of a molecular space fill model and gave her  
antibody legs and thus the molecular dolly became  
abcam’s molly 2005
121
2006
194
2007
245
2008
367
turnover £m
2005
30
2006
50
2007
55
2008
82
profit £m before tax
2005
859
2006
1117
2007
1174
2008
1688
earnings per share p
abcam plc
annual report and accounts
30 june 2008
 highlights
44000
number of products  
up 298
£367m
sales increased 497
£82m
profit before tax 
increased 482
 sales increased 497 to £367m  
2007 £245m 
 pretax profits increased 482 to £82m 
 product range grew 298 to 44000 
antibodies and related products  
2007 33900 
 transfer of all polyclonal production to high
throughput production htp facility 
successfully completed further development 
of monoclonal production programme and 
significant increase in levels of product 
characterisation undertaken inhouse
 us subsidiary continued to trade well  
and our japanese subsidiary grew sales  
by 674 in the second half of the year
•
•
•
•
•
 net cash and short term investments at  
30 june 2008 of £145m 2007 £107m
 eps increased by 438 to 1688p per share 
2007 1174p 
 final dividend increased by 429 to 456p 
per share 2007 319p making a total 
dividend for the year of 560p 2007 399p
david cleevely chairman of abcam said  
“the year to june 2008 was another year of 
impressive growth at abcam reflected in our 
strong sales profits and cash generation and  
in the 404 increase in our total dividend  
the growing international demand for research 
antibodies combined with the strength of  
our brand product range and strategy means 
that the board looks forward to the future  
with confidence”
•
•
•
 pre potential offer related costs of £250k abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
2
job	 11373	abcam		frontaw	 proof	 05	 proof read by
operator	tim	 date	 23092008	
server	 studio	i	 setup	 tim	 first	readrevisions
our business
at a glance
our vision is to build the largest 
online antibody resource in the 
world while also ensuring that 
the antibodies are of high quality 
and commercially viable
the idea for abcam came early 
in  998 out of a laboratory in 
the university of cambridge 
uk the principal founder 
jonathan milner was working 
as a postdoctoral researcher 
studying the newly discovered 
breast cancer protein brca2 in 
professor tony kouzarides’ 
laboratory the project slowed 
because of problems finding 
quality antibody reagents that 
had honest and uptodate 
information about their uses 
and limitations it was frustrating
how we 
work
1 we source and develop
we make our own antibodies 
and source other excellent 
antibodies from institutes 
academic laboratories and 
primary manufacturers
abcam now has an online 
catalogue of more than 44000 
antibodies and related products 
such as proteins peptides and 
kits an increasing number of 
products are produced in
house at our new high 
throughput production facility in 
cambridge uk and the 
percentage of total sales 
represented by such products 
is expected to grow as the 
facility comes fully on stream 
other products are supplied by  
more than 250 leading oem 
partners and sold under the 
abcam brand
2 we add value
our scientists have built a 
catalogue of the best antibodies 
in the world and provide technical 
support on all of our products to 
enable our customers to achieve 
the result they expect
the unique relationship abcam 
has with the scientists who use 
our products means that we can 
obtain a wide range of testing 
data from their feedback and 
enquiries we publish this 
information in the form of 
abreviews
sm
  which report the 
purchasing decisions of 
researchers looking for 
reagents taken across the 
catalogue average sales per 
product continue to increase the 
longer they have been on our 
catalogue a trend we attribute 
in part to the sheer quantity of 
information that we are able to 
gather and publish over time
following an indepth study of 
the market abcam has chosen 
8 core focus areas cfas 
each of which represents a 
research area with high market 
demand we have vertically 
integrated our business 
development manufacturing 
marketing sales and technical 
support teams around these 
areas and expect to add a 
further two cfas by june 2009
3 we deliver
our systems enable us to 
process orders quickly and 
accurately and we ship across 
the globe using our fully 
automated webenabled stock
management system our size 
means that we can invest in 
stateofthe art storage and 
handling facilities which have 
enabled us to speed up shipping 
times and increase our output 
we are able to operate at high
levels of efficiency and with low 
handling costs
abcam plc is a producer and distributor of 
researchgrade antibodies and associated 
products
where we operate
abcam is headquartered in cambridge uk and continues to 
benefit from close links to the university of cambridge from which 
a large number of our phd recruits are drawn
our us office has made a substantial increasing contribution  
to sales since it was opened four years ago serving our largest 
single market
we opened an office in tokyo japan in december 2006 and this 
has enabled us to radically improve the quality of the service we 
provide to customers in the form of technical support and speed  
of delivery
we are also continuing to build our distributor network in order to 
improve our geographic reach in parts of the world where an  
ecommerce model has yet to be fully embraced  abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
3
customers can directly access 
the website to find the status of 
their orders so they can plan 
their experiments more 
effectively
4 we support
our products come with an 
abpromise
sm
 giving customers 
the reassurance of knowing 
that
 our antibodies are of the 
highest quality and are 
backed up by an expert 
technical team who are  
able to assist in initial  
product selection
•
 customers can at  
any time contact other  
customers using  
the same antibody  
via our unique  
abreviews
sm
 system
 if after optimisation any 
product does not perform as 
described on the datasheet 
customers can contact our 
expert team to ask for advice 
assistance and
 in the unlikely event that a 
product is faulty we will 
replace or provide a full 
refund if reported within  
 20 days of purchase
•
•
•
our 
products
abcam has over 44000 
products in its catalogue and 
the number is still growing
our team not only adds new 
products to our catalogue every 
day but also regularly modifies 
the datasheets for our existing 
products these modifications 
are based on our own testing 
and research in addition to the 
feedback of our suppliers and 
customers
 for our customers this means
more antibody targets
more product types
more choice
•
•
•
products sold by abcam but 
not manufactured on our 
premises are supplied by more 
than 250 leading oem partners 
around the world
as it comes fully on stream  
our new production facility will 
enable us to devote substantially 
more resources to inhouse 
product development in 
particular this year has seen  
an increase in the levels of 
quality of characterisation 
which we can now provide  
with all our products this  
is a key driver of growth
our people
strength through brilliant people
we take enormous pride in the calibre of our employees since its 
launch in  998 abcam has had tremendous success in attracting 
highly skilled people to its business and now boasts an impressive 
intellectual capital base
abcam now employs  84 fulltime staff a large proportion of who 
have phds in the uk we are able to draw on our close links with the 
university of cambridge from where many of our phd recruits come
abcam remains fully committed to enhancing the abilities of its team 
members through its programme of staff training and development
the strength our staff bring is demonstrable in the enthusiasm and 
creativity which drives the group abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
4
job	 11373	abcam		frontaw	 proof	 05	 proof read by
operator	tim	 date	 23092008	
server	 studio	i	 setup	 tim	 first	readrevisions
our internet
platform
for many customers the 
internet is the most convenient 
and comprehensive method of 
finding the product they need 
as such search engine 
optimisation is important to 
ensure that abcam products 
feature prominently in the 
organic nonsponsored 
results regular monitoring and 
expert design lead to 
progressively better search 
engine rankings currently 97 
of our catalogue is represented 
in google the goal for abcam 
is for every one of its products 
to be represented in the top 
ranking positions on the major 
search engines
the user experience starting 
from the moment the customer 
clicks on a link to the abcam 
website is very important to us 
a page request rapidly crosses 
the internet to our data centre 
and is inspected by our security 
perimeter before being passed 
to our specialised website load 
balancer in just a few 
milliseconds the load balancer 
has selected one of our many 
webservers which dynamically 
creates the page and sends the 
response back to the customer 
via an optimised path through 
the internet as determined by 
our content delivery network 
cdn abcam is proud to say 
that the technical strength 
required to deliver the abcam 
website has been built from  
the ground up by the expert  
it team employed at abcam 
this inhouse expertise gives 
us the ability to constantly fine
tune our infrastructure and 
leverage specific technologies 
to our benefit
the time it takes for a webpage 
to appear in the browser is 
constantly monitored by software 
that records the response time 
for every single page request by 
customers anywhere in the 
world we record everything 
from the customer’s location to 
their browser type how long the 
page took to appear on their 
screen and what speed 
broadband they are using 
through a combination of using 
clustered highpowered 
webservers and the world’s 
leading cdn we deliver our 
website to customers in the usa 
in  3 seconds in japan in  4 
seconds and in europe in  5 
seconds a sub2second 
response time worldwide is 
our benchmark
as well as the speed of 
delivery our it systems also 
help to ensure that the content 
received by the user is fresh 
and constantly updated with 
images reviews and customer 
feedback as well as pricing and 
stock availability in order to 
show the most relevant and 
useful data we test our website 
usability both in facetoface 
sessions with scientists and 
using automated testing 
techniques this enables us to 
achieve the optimal structure 
and content for the pages
in addition to providing an 
optimal web experience to  
our users we have invested 
heavily in our internal systems 
being a webbased company 
geographical barriers are 
technically easy to deal with  
a single database serves the 
company intranet across our 
three offices where staff can 
access all the same internal 
applications and the database 
links directly to our customer 
relationship management 
crm order fulfilment and 
stock inventory systems as with 
our web infrastructure the 
software for these systems is 
developed inhouse meaning 
that we can react quickly to new 
requirements and tailor systems 
specifically to the job at hand 
our software development team 
work around the clock to 
increase the effectiveness of  
our it systems and for each 
improvement the benefits are 
immediately realised across  
all offices 
finding ways of improving 
efficiency is a passion at 
abcam continually refining 
operational processes with 
tightly integrated inhouse it 
systems is one of the ways 
abcam has scaled so 
effectively in the usa for 
instance we have been able to 
scale to fulfilling an increase in 
orders of 38 year on year 
but at the same time shorten 
customer shipping times from 
several days to nextday and in 
many cases sameday delivery
while our website is regularly 
serving millions of pageviews 
per month and operational 
systems are taking care of 
customer orders product 
specialists add valuable data to 
our online datasheets these 
feed automated systems that 
tailor personalised marketing 
emails to our extensive 
customer base – reminding 
them that abcam has the 
largest online catalogue of the 
best antibodies in the world
it systems and the internet underpin our 
business at abcam our culture is based  
on strong technical foundations and the  
datarich characteristics of our products  
mean that they are ideally suited to selling  
in the online marketplace  abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
5
for many customers the 
internet is the most convenient 
and comprehensive method of 
finding the product they need 
as such search engine 
optimisation is important to 
ensure that abcam products 
feature prominently in the 
organic nonsponsored 
results regular monitoring and 
expert design lead to 
progressively better search 
engine rankings currently 97 
of our catalogue is represented 
in google the goal for abcam 
is for every one of its products 
to be represented in the top 
ranking positions on the major 
search engines
the user experience starting 
from the moment the customer 
clicks on a link to the abcam 
website is very important to us 
a page request rapidly crosses 
the internet to our data centre 
and is inspected by our security 
perimeter before being passed 
to our specialised website load 
balancer in just a few 
milliseconds the load balancer 
has selected one of our many 
webservers which dynamically 
creates the page and sends the 
response back to the customer 
via an optimised path through 
the internet as determined by 
our content delivery network 
cdn abcam is proud to say 
that the technical strength 
required to deliver the abcam 
website has been built from  
the ground up by the expert  
it team employed at abcam 
this inhouse expertise gives 
us the ability to constantly fine
tune our infrastructure and 
leverage specific technologies 
to our benefit
the time it takes for a webpage 
to appear in the browser is 
constantly monitored by software 
that records the response time 
for every single page request by 
customers anywhere in the 
world we record everything 
from the customer’s location to 
their browser type how long the 
page took to appear on their 
screen and what speed 
broadband they are using 
through a combination of using 
clustered highpowered 
webservers and the world’s 
leading cdn we deliver our 
website to customers in the usa 
in  3 seconds in japan in  4 
seconds and in europe in  5 
seconds a sub2second 
response time worldwide is 
our benchmark
as well as the speed of 
delivery our it systems also 
help to ensure that the content 
received by the user is fresh 
and constantly updated with 
images reviews and customer 
feedback as well as pricing and 
stock availability in order to 
show the most relevant and 
useful data we test our website 
usability both in facetoface 
sessions with scientists and 
using automated testing 
techniques this enables us to 
achieve the optimal structure 
and content for the pages
in addition to providing an 
optimal web experience to  
our users we have invested 
heavily in our internal systems 
being a webbased company 
geographical barriers are 
technically easy to deal with  
a single database serves the 
company intranet across our 
three offices where staff can 
access all the same internal 
applications and the database 
links directly to our customer 
relationship management 
crm order fulfilment and 
stock inventory systems as with 
our web infrastructure the 
software for these systems is 
developed inhouse meaning 
that we can react quickly to new 
requirements and tailor systems 
specifically to the job at hand 
our software development team 
work around the clock to 
increase the effectiveness of  
our it systems and for each 
improvement the benefits are 
immediately realised across  
all offices 
finding ways of improving 
efficiency is a passion at 
abcam continually refining 
operational processes with 
tightly integrated inhouse it 
systems is one of the ways 
abcam has scaled so 
effectively in the usa for 
instance we have been able to 
scale to fulfilling an increase in 
orders of 38 year on year 
but at the same time shorten 
customer shipping times from 
several days to nextday and in 
many cases sameday delivery
while our website is regularly 
serving millions of pageviews 
per month and operational 
systems are taking care of 
customer orders product 
specialists add valuable data to 
our online datasheets these 
feed automated systems that 
tailor personalised marketing 
emails to our extensive 
customer base – reminding 
them that abcam has the 
largest online catalogue of the 
best antibodies in the world abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
6
job	 11373	abcam		frontaw	 proof	 05	 proof read by
operator	tim	 date	 23092008	
server	 studio	i	 setup	 tim	 first	readrevisions
chairman’s
review
abcam has recently celebrated its tenth 
anniversary and i am delighted to report on 
another outstanding year as the group 
continues to go from strength to strength 
demand for research antibodies 
has never been higher nor has 
our reputation our highly 
developed ecommerce 
platform offering targeted 
information and easy access  
to products has become the 
destination of choice for 
increasing numbers of 
researchers across the world 
our intention is to consistently 
deliver robust growth whilst at 
the same time investing in the 
future of the business thus 
ensuring that we have a solid 
and sustainable foundation for 
longterm development this 
has been achieved this year 
and the business is well set for 
continued success
we have achieved strong 
growth in all the regions in 
which we operate sales in the 
year increased by 497 to 
£367m 49  on a constant 
currency basis whilst gross 
margins increased from 59  
to 608 this outstanding 
performance is a testimony  
to the quality of the products 
and support we offer the 
scalability of our operation and 
abcam’s growing reputation as 
a quality supplier to the world 
scientific community 
a key driver of our success is 
our wealth of product data this 
set of data is a tremendous 
asset and includes technical 
information application specific 
information usergenerated 
reviews and how our products 
have been used in published 
experiments using this 
relevant easily accessible 
information research scientists 
can identify and purchase the 
products best suited for their 
requirements during the year 
our catalogue increased by 
more than  0000 products 
from 33900 at the end of the 
last financial year to over 
44000 at the end of june 2008 
sales of individual products 
tend to increase the longer they 
are listed and as more data is 
gathered new products 
contributed £32m to sales in 
the year and we expect sales 
from these new launches to 
increase in future years 
our investments in the year 
included the continued 
development of the high
throughput production htp 
facility the htp facility has 
taken on the production of new 
and existing polyclonal 
antibodies and been very 
successful in adding 
characterisation data which is 
an important driver of growth 
to our existing catalogue a 
priority for this year has been 
increasing production 
efficiencies and managing 
costs we have also continued 
development work on our 
automated monoclonal 
development programme the 
initial level of sales of the 
monoclonal antibodies added 
to the catalogue during the year 
has been well ahead of 
david cleevely
chairman
 abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
7
expectations and we will 
continue to prudently manage 
monoclonal production levels in 
line with the development of our 
production process 
our offices in the usa and 
japan have both grown 
significantly in the year and our 
commitment to optimising the 
user experience has driven 
further investment in our 
website infrastructure and the 
establishment of a dedicated  
ecommerce team we are also 
continuing to build our 
distributor network in order to 
improve our geographic reach 
in parts of the world where an 
ecommerce model has yet to 
be fully embraced 
we have continued to attract 
staff of the highest calibre to 
ensure that our growth is 
targeted and well managed a 
high proportion of our staff have 
phds and we aim to blend a 
depth of technical knowledge 
with strong commercial 
acumen in november 2007 we 
appointed jeff iliffe as chief 
financial officer and with the 
extremely valuable 
contributions from the non
executive directors we have a 
strong and effective board
our aim is to continue 
delivering value to both our 
customers and our 
shareholders and i would like to 
thank them for their continued 
support i would also like to 
extend thanks to our growing 
number of suppliers and finally 
to our dedicated and talented 
staff who make these 
achievements possible 
dividends
the board’s policy is to 
distribute 33 of profit after tax 
as dividends this was 
increased from 25 last year in 
line with the strong cashflow 
and growing success of the 
group an interim dividend of 
 04p per share was paid in 
april 2008 and the directors 
are therefore recommending a 
final dividend of 456p per 
share making a total for the 
year of 560p subject to 
shareholder approval at the 
annual general meeting in 
november this dividend will be 
paid on 28 november 2008 to 
shareholders on the register on 
7 november 2008
outlook
our track record demonstrates 
the strength of the combination 
of our highly developed  
ecommerce platform wealth  
of product data extensive 
range of antibodies and high
calibre staff we have built an 
attractive position in an exciting 
market and the board looks to 
the future with confidence
david cleevely freng
chairman
8 september 2008 abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
8
job	 11373	abcam		frontaw	 proof	 05	 proof read by
operator	tim	 date	 23092008	
server	 studio	i	 setup	 tim	 first	readrevisions
chief
executive 
officer’s review
we have built a truly international reputation in 
the research community for the reliability of our 
products and the support we offer 
the development of our 
systems and the power of the 
internet enable us to focus our 
marketing effectively and to 
provide a targeted highvalue 
service at the individual 
researcher level at the same 
time our product range has 
expanded to more than 44000 
products and sales have 
increased by 497 to £367m 
we continue to strike a balance 
between current year growth 
and investment for the future 
even so profit before taxation 
increased by 482 from £55m 
to £82m before charging 
£250k in costs associated  
with the potential offer process 
last summer 
what is also very exciting is the 
298 growth achieved in the 
number of products in the 
catalogue and the breadth 
covered by the new products 
one of the strengths of the 
team that sources externally 
manufactured antibodies from 
original equipment 
manufacturers oems is the 
diversity of deals that they can 
cover in building the catalogue 
this year deals range from one 
adding almost 3000 antibodies 
immediately to those on 
individual products from niche 
researchers it is encouraging 
also that we have built a 
sufficient market share such 
that the desirability of pursuing 
exclusive product line 
acquisition pla deals has 
reduced we do not rule out 
doing more pla deals in the 
future if the deals are lucrative 
however as a source of growth 
and capturing market share 
their role and importance has 
diminished overall we are now 
managing relationships with 
more than 250 suppliers and 
see growth both from new 
products that our established 
suppliers bring to us and from 
the continued addition of new 
suppliers we are also 
expanding the breadth of 
antibodyrelated reagents that 
we can cover giving us access 
to new markets for example 
this year we have almost 
doubled our proteins range
our htp facility is now well 
established in its new building 
the production levels of 
polyclonal antibodies now 
exceed the levels achieved in 
our old facility with the capacity 
to increase this in line with 
market demand we are also 
seeing the monoclonal 
antibodies coming out of the 
developmental stages of the 
facility and showing good initial 
sales 
a further particularly satisfying 
achievement is the introduction 
of highthroughput screening 
assays into the htp facility 
leading to increased levels and 
quality of characterisation 
which we can now provide with 
all our products this is a key 
driver of our growth and we are 
delighted with the amount of 
characterisation data that is 
being generated  
both our oem product sourcing 
strategies and htp product 
development are driven by our 
approach to the segmentation 
of the research market into 
core focus areas cfas this 
year we have continued to build 
our cfa strategy through the 
development and integration of 
product marketing events and 
support teams within each cfa 
we have found that the cfa 
approach is very effective in 
capturing market share and 
continue to add further cfas in 
order to maintain this momentum 
we started the year with six 
cfas and we added two further 
to take our total number to eight 
fully established cfas 
a key area of development 
based around the cfas is in the 
activities of the scientific events 
team which organises and runs 
conferences and seminars to 
help across all our cfas we 
have also been developing an 
expert system – the target 
selection database tsdb – to 
help in the quality of candidate 
targets that we can select the 
tsdb is a powerful datamining 
tool that integrates both internal 
and external scientific data 
sources to provide a 
comprehensive profile of the 
commercial potential of a target 
in half the time taken previously
we have a highly efficient 
business with endtoend 
systems linking the public 
website directly through to 
product ordering inventory 
management logistics and 
accounting the resulting real
time data gives us strong 
operational and financial 
control and enables us to adopt 
an agile and responsive 
approach to the management of 
the business
since the creation of the 
company ten years ago our 
strong focus has been on 
serving the researcher and our 
business philosophy and 
processes are all based around 
their needs and the 
achievement of their objectives 
during that time our products 
have been used in ground
breaking research and 
referenced in thousands of 
publications thus enhancing 
our international reputation 
this commitment is also core to 
our future as through the 
development of our systems we 
build on our relationships 
offering an ever more relevant 
service to each individual as 
our product range and 
geographic reach expand 
jonathan milner
ceo
8 september 2008
jonathan milner
ceo
 abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
9
the development of our 
systems and the power of the 
internet enable us to focus our 
marketing effectively and to 
provide a targeted highvalue 
service at the individual 
researcher level at the same 
time our product range has 
expanded to more than 44000 
products and sales have 
increased by 497 to £367m 
we continue to strike a balance 
between current year growth 
and investment for the future 
even so profit before taxation 
increased by 482 from £55m 
to £82m before charging 
£250k in costs associated  
with the potential offer process 
last summer 
what is also very exciting is the 
298 growth achieved in the 
number of products in the 
catalogue and the breadth 
covered by the new products 
one of the strengths of the 
team that sources externally 
manufactured antibodies from 
original equipment 
manufacturers oems is the 
diversity of deals that they can 
cover in building the catalogue 
this year deals range from one 
adding almost 3000 antibodies 
immediately to those on 
individual products from niche 
researchers it is encouraging 
also that we have built a 
sufficient market share such 
that the desirability of pursuing 
exclusive product line 
acquisition pla deals has 
reduced we do not rule out 
doing more pla deals in the 
future if the deals are lucrative 
however as a source of growth 
and capturing market share 
their role and importance has 
diminished overall we are now 
managing relationships with 
more than 250 suppliers and 
see growth both from new 
products that our established 
suppliers bring to us and from 
the continued addition of new 
suppliers we are also 
expanding the breadth of 
antibodyrelated reagents that 
we can cover giving us access 
to new markets for example 
this year we have almost 
doubled our proteins range
our htp facility is now well 
established in its new building 
the production levels of 
polyclonal antibodies now 
exceed the levels achieved in 
our old facility with the capacity 
to increase this in line with 
market demand we are also 
seeing the monoclonal 
antibodies coming out of the 
developmental stages of the 
facility and showing good initial 
sales 
a further particularly satisfying 
achievement is the introduction 
of highthroughput screening 
assays into the htp facility 
leading to increased levels and 
quality of characterisation 
which we can now provide with 
all our products this is a key 
driver of our growth and we are 
delighted with the amount of 
characterisation data that is 
being generated  
both our oem product sourcing 
strategies and htp product 
development are driven by our 
approach to the segmentation 
of the research market into 
core focus areas cfas this 
year we have continued to build 
our cfa strategy through the 
development and integration of 
product marketing events and 
support teams within each cfa 
we have found that the cfa 
approach is very effective in 
capturing market share and 
continue to add further cfas in 
order to maintain this momentum 
we started the year with six 
cfas and we added two further 
to take our total number to eight 
fully established cfas 
a key area of development 
based around the cfas is in the 
activities of the scientific events 
team which organises and runs 
conferences and seminars to 
help across all our cfas we 
have also been developing an 
expert system – the target 
selection database tsdb – to 
help in the quality of candidate 
targets that we can select the 
tsdb is a powerful datamining 
tool that integrates both internal 
and external scientific data 
sources to provide a 
comprehensive profile of the 
commercial potential of a target 
in half the time taken previously
we have a highly efficient 
business with endtoend 
systems linking the public 
website directly through to 
product ordering inventory 
management logistics and 
accounting the resulting real
time data gives us strong 
operational and financial 
control and enables us to adopt 
an agile and responsive 
approach to the management of 
the business
since the creation of the 
company ten years ago our 
strong focus has been on 
serving the researcher and our 
business philosophy and 
processes are all based around 
their needs and the 
achievement of their objectives 
during that time our products 
have been used in ground
breaking research and 
referenced in thousands of 
publications thus enhancing 
our international reputation 
this commitment is also core to 
our future as through the 
development of our systems we 
build on our relationships 
offering an ever more relevant 
service to each individual as 
our product range and 
geographic reach expand 
jonathan milner
ceo
8 september 2008 abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
 0
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server	 studio	i	 setup	 tim	 first	readrevisions
managing
director’s
review
our strong performance this year is  
again a tribute to the enthusiasm and 
commitment of our staff 
our new htp manufacturing 
facility in cambridge uk has 
been open for just over a year 
and the move from our existing 
facility has gone well the 
production processes for 
polyclonal antibodies are now 
established and the 
development programme for our 
own monoclonal manufacturing 
is well underway during the 
year we have been 
commissioning the major pieces 
of automation equipment from 
beckman coulter needed for 
scaledup production of 
monoclonals the last of these – 
the freezedown workstation for 
longterm storage of the clones 
– is scheduled to be 
commissioned before the end of 
this calendar year
this year has marked an 
important transition for our 
tokyo office which since  
january 2008 has moved from 
transacting the majority of our 
business through our original 
distributor to dealing directly 
with our major subdealers in 
the japanese market this 
enables us both to provide 
better support to our customers 
by shortening the communication 
chain to them and to improve 
the margin we can realise from 
selling our products this 
transition was always part of the 
strategy for developing the 
tokyo office but i am delighted 
to report that we have achieved 
this whilst still delivering 674 
growth in sales from ¥ 598m 
£07m to ¥2675m £ 3m 
comparing the second half of 
this financial year with the same 
period last year
this year has also seen us 
continuing our strategy of 
developing our european  
sales through our ‘virtual 
offices’ based out of our 
cambridge uk office  
enabling european customers 
to contact us directly in their 
own language the results  
have been very pleasing 
particularly in germany and 
france a combination of 
targeted marketing campaigns 
and amendments to our 
discount structure in europe 
has meant we have increased 
sales by 655 from €89m 
to € 47m 
as well as contributing to our 
overall sales the strength in 
growth of our european sales 
has contributed to the margin 
improvements we have seen 
this year
our north american sales 
based out of our office in 
cambridge ma have also 
continued to grow from 247m 
to 338m an increase of 
369 we have been fortunate 
to be able to take on an 
additional 4500 square feet of 
adjoining space that has 
become vacant at our one 
kendall square address this 
will enable us to implement 
smoothly the planned 
expansion of our operations in 
north america without the 
inconvenience of relocating and 
should provide sufficient space 
to accommodate up to three 
years of projected growth
an area which is fast maturing 
into an important cornerstone of 
our business is our scientific 
events team we organise and 
run conferences and seminars 
in our cfas both as part of our 
core marketing strategy and to 
build brand awareness and 
keep us in touch with our 
customers and the scientific 
community we have gradually 
built up our capability and 
reputation in the biological 
events arena from running two 
major events in 2006–07 
around chromatin and stem 
cells to four in 2007–08 in 
addition we have run twenty 
smaller oneday events and 
seminars this year and will 
expand these further in  
2008–09
our strong performance this 
year is again a tribute to the 
enthusiasm and commitment of 
our staff we aim to provide a 
rewarding and progressive 
environment for our employees 
and we are always seeking 
ways to improve our overall 
benefits package for all our 
staff for example this year in 
the uk despite still being a 
relatively small company we 
are offering a classleading 
selfservice flexible benefits 
system where staff can choose 
from a variety of benefits 
ranging from health care and 
pensions to cycletowork 
schemes and take best 
advantage of the tax 
concessions available via 
salary sacrifice we believe that 
continuing to develop the 
creative and innovative 
individuals who have grown up 
through a young 
entrepreneurial culture will 
enable us to grow successfully 
over the coming years this is 
achieved by being open to both 
interdepartmental transfers and 
the career aspirations of staff 
together with active training 
and development programmes 
utilising local initiatives and 
other opportunities open to staff
jim warwick
managing director
8 september 2008
jim warwick
managing director
 abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
 our new htp manufacturing 
facility in cambridge uk has 
been open for just over a year 
and the move from our existing 
facility has gone well the 
production processes for 
polyclonal antibodies are now 
established and the 
development programme for our 
own monoclonal manufacturing 
is well underway during the 
year we have been 
commissioning the major pieces 
of automation equipment from 
beckman coulter needed for 
scaledup production of 
monoclonals the last of these – 
the freezedown workstation for 
longterm storage of the clones 
– is scheduled to be 
commissioned before the end of 
this calendar year
this year has marked an 
important transition for our 
tokyo office which since  
january 2008 has moved from 
transacting the majority of our 
business through our original 
distributor to dealing directly 
with our major subdealers in 
the japanese market this 
enables us both to provide 
better support to our customers 
by shortening the communication 
chain to them and to improve 
the margin we can realise from 
selling our products this 
transition was always part of the 
strategy for developing the 
tokyo office but i am delighted 
to report that we have achieved 
this whilst still delivering 674 
growth in sales from ¥ 598m 
£07m to ¥2675m £ 3m 
comparing the second half of 
this financial year with the same 
period last year
this year has also seen us 
continuing our strategy of 
developing our european  
sales through our ‘virtual 
offices’ based out of our 
cambridge uk office  
enabling european customers 
to contact us directly in their 
own language the results  
have been very pleasing 
particularly in germany and 
france a combination of 
targeted marketing campaigns 
and amendments to our 
discount structure in europe 
has meant we have increased 
sales by 655 from €89m 
to € 47m 
as well as contributing to our 
overall sales the strength in 
growth of our european sales 
has contributed to the margin 
improvements we have seen 
this year
our north american sales 
based out of our office in 
cambridge ma have also 
continued to grow from 247m 
to 338m an increase of 
369 we have been fortunate 
to be able to take on an 
additional 4500 square feet of 
adjoining space that has 
become vacant at our one 
kendall square address this 
will enable us to implement 
smoothly the planned 
expansion of our operations in 
north america without the 
inconvenience of relocating and 
should provide sufficient space 
to accommodate up to three 
years of projected growth
an area which is fast maturing 
into an important cornerstone of 
our business is our scientific 
events team we organise and 
run conferences and seminars 
in our cfas both as part of our 
core marketing strategy and to 
build brand awareness and 
keep us in touch with our 
customers and the scientific 
community we have gradually 
built up our capability and 
reputation in the biological 
events arena from running two 
major events in 2006–07 
around chromatin and stem 
cells to four in 2007–08 in 
addition we have run twenty 
smaller oneday events and 
seminars this year and will 
expand these further in  
2008–09
our strong performance this 
year is again a tribute to the 
enthusiasm and commitment of 
our staff we aim to provide a 
rewarding and progressive 
environment for our employees 
and we are always seeking 
ways to improve our overall 
benefits package for all our 
staff for example this year in 
the uk despite still being a 
relatively small company we 
are offering a classleading 
selfservice flexible benefits 
system where staff can choose 
from a variety of benefits 
ranging from health care and 
pensions to cycletowork 
schemes and take best 
advantage of the tax 
concessions available via 
salary sacrifice we believe that 
continuing to develop the 
creative and innovative 
individuals who have grown up 
through a young 
entrepreneurial culture will 
enable us to grow successfully 
over the coming years this is 
achieved by being open to both 
interdepartmental transfers and 
the career aspirations of staff 
together with active training 
and development programmes 
utilising local initiatives and 
other opportunities open to staff
jim warwick
managing director
8 september 2008 abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
 2
job	 11373	abcam		frontaw	 proof	 05	 proof read by
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financial
review
during the year our business development  
and marketing teams introduced a number  
of strategies to improve sales and manage  
cost increases
sales
sales increased in the year by 
497 to £367m or 49  on a 
constant currency basis ie if 
foreign currency exchange 
rates had remained unchanged 
from 2007 average exchange 
rate applied to sales 2008  
£   997 € 374 ¥22005  
2007 £   925 € 48  ¥229699
gross margin
gross margins reported for the 
period under review are 608 
compared with 59  for the 
previous year the increase of 
 7 is attributable to improved 
pricing which more than 
compensated for price 
increases from suppliers 
07 higher sales of products 
acquired under the exclusive 
product line acquisitions 
04 and from the benefit of 
the stronger euro during the 
period since a relatively small 
proportion of our product costs 
are denominated in euros 06
during the year our business 
development and marketing 
teams combined to actively 
manage the margin achieved 
on sales and introduced a 
number of strategies aimed at 
working with suppliers to 
improve sales and manage cost 
increases
administrative 
expenses
administrative expenses rose 
from £77m to £ 25m this 
increase reflects the 372 
growth in the average 
headcount to  66 the first full 
year of operation of the htp 
facility and the japanese 
office during the year a net 
impairment charge of £442k 
was taken to the income 
statement relating to the 
reduction in the carrying value 
of one of the exclusive product 
line acquisition deals following 
an assessment of future 
prospects under the deal 
the bad debt provision 
increased from £224k to £59 k 
during the year largely as a 
result of an overseas distributor 
having financial difficulties after 
becoming involved in a local 
court action meaning that 
recovery of the balance due is 
now considered doubtful
research and 
development 
expenditure
research and development 
expenditure increased by 
398 reflecting an increase in 
investment in the development 
of the monoclonal production 
process and new polyclonal 
production development the 
level of expenditure is expected 
to continue to increase in future 
as the level of new product 
polyclonal production grows 
and the monoclonal 
development programme 
scalesup 
profit
operating profits increased by 
5 3 from £50m in the year 
ended june 2007 to £76m after 
adding back costs of £250k 
relating to a potential offer for 
the group as announced to the 
market in july 2007 this 
represents an increase in 
operating profit as a 
percentage of sales from 205 
to 208 despite the impact of 
the additional costs outlined 
above
interest income rose as the 
company benefited from strong 
cash generation during the year
tax
the consolidated tax charge for 
the year was £2 m or 259 of 
profit before tax reflecting the 
tax credits arising from the 
increased amount of research 
and development undertaken 
a credit of £ 4k was also 
received for research and 
development activities 
jeff iiiffe
chief financial 
officer
 abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
 3
undertaken in prior years the 
effective tax charge for the year 
was 259 2007 266 
the tax charge for 2007 was 
£ 5m having been restated 
from £ 6m following the 
adoption of international 
financial reporting standards 
ifrs the consolidated tax 
charge will benefit in future from 
a full year’s impact of the 
reduction in corporation tax in 
the uk from 30 to 28 and 
an increased level of research 
and development
inventories
the group manages stock 
levels closely by monitoring the 
expectations of future sales for 
every product in the catalogue 
and the time taken to restock 
either from our own production 
or from oem suppliers as a 
result stock levels have 
increased less than the growth 
in sales during the course of the 
year over time the group 
expects the levels of stock to 
increase relative to sales since 
abcam products developed in
house involve batch sizes 
larger than required for 
immediate sale
debtors
a main focus for the year has 
been on debtor control and 
debtor days at the year end 
were 344 2007 443 the 
majority of sales continue to be 
on credit and we would expect 
some increase in debtor days 
over time in line with practice in 
local markets as the geographic 
spread of sales widens
creditors
current liabilities rose from 
£34m to £48m primarily 
resulting from a 338 increase 
in trade and other payables 
which is slightly less than the 
increase in sales noncurrent 
liabilities fell from £06m to 
£02m being the net effect of a 
decrease in deferred tax 
balances due to the level of 
expenditure during the year on 
capital equipment relating to 
the htp facility and a reduction 
in the estimated amount due as 
deferred settlement on a 
product line acquisition 
concluded in 2006
cashflow
the group’s cashflow continues 
to be strong with £7 m 2007 
£34m generated from trading 
in the year consequently 
despite spending £25m on 
facilities and equipment and 
£03m on acquiring distribution 
rights the group’s cash and 
short term investment balances 
increased by £38m
accounting standards
these are the first full year’s 
results of the group to be 
stated under ifrs and 
consequently there are a 
number of changes to both 
presentation and content of 
these financial statements the 
effects of the adjustments are 
explained in note 30 the 
material changes being the 
inclusion of derivative 
instruments at fair value giving 
rise to a charge to profit and 
loss of £ 97k 2007 charge of 
£ 68k and the recognition of a 
deferred tax asset relating to 
unexercised share options of 
£224k 2007 liability of £46k
eps
the number of shares issued 
during the year for the exercise 
of share options was relatively 
small at 443397 2007  58800 
meaning that as post tax profit 
grew by 437 2007  55 
the growth in basic eps was 
438 2007 57 and diluted 
eps was 449 2007 65 
currency exposure
the group continues to 
generate significant amounts 
of dollars and euros in excess 
of payments in these currencies 
and has hedging arrangements 
in place to reduce the exposure 
during the year to 30 june 2008 
the group had forward 
exchange contracts in place to 
sell  24m and € 9m at 
average rates of £ to   9356 
and £ to € 4054 respectively 
of these contracts for 42m 
and €45m were still 
outstanding at the year end
for the year ending 30 june 
2009 the group has forward 
exchange contracts in place to 
sell 90m and €8 m at 
average rates of £ to   924 
and € 294
jeff iliffe
chief financial officer
8 september 2008 abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
 4
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board of
directors
david cleevely freng
chairman
david cleevely freng is the 
chairman of crfs the 
spectrum monitoring company 
which he cofounded in july 
2007 and the founder and 
former chairman of telecoms 
consultancy analysys acquired 
by datatec international in 
2004 in late 2004 he co
founded the 3g pico base 
station company 3waynetworks 
which was sold to airvana in 
april 2007 after being 
sponsored to study cybernetics 
at reading by post office 
telecommunications he joined 
their long range studies 
division a phd at cambridge 
was then followed by the 
economist intelligence unit in 
london he is a fellow of the 
royal academy of engineering 
and a fellow of the iet and he 
has recently held an industrial 
fellowship at the university of 
cambridge computer 
laboratory he founded abcam 
with jonathan milner and tony 
kouzarides in february  998
jonathan milner phd
group chief executive
jonathan milner has a bsc in 
applied biology from bath 
university and a phd in 
molecular genetics from 
leicester university from  992 
to  995 he was a research 
fellow for pfizerpharmaceuticals 
in the laboratory of professor 
tony rees at the university of 
bath and from  995 until  998 
he was a research fellow at 
cambridge university in the 
laboratory of professor tony 
kouzarides where he studied 
genes and proteins associated 
with human cancers he 
founded abcam with david 
cleevely and tony kouzarides 
in february  998
jim warwick bsc
managing director
jim warwick has a bsc in 
computer science from 
cambridge university from 
 986 to 2003 he worked for 
analysys ltd a cambridge
based telecommunications 
consultancy heading up the it 
software and web development 
initiatives during this period he 
also held a number of 
nonexecutive directorships 
with external organisations 
including workbench software 
ltd a startup with a targeted 
software package for time 
recording systems and vbn 
ltd a webbased hosting 
company specialising in 
business cluster and innovation 
network solutions he joined 
abcam in 200 as technical 
director initially working part
time but as a permanent 
employee from 2003 he has 
overseen the expansion of 
abcam’s bespoke webbased 
systems jim was promoted to 
managing director of abcam 
ltd in june 2004
jeff iliffe bsc aca
chief financial officer
jeff iliffe is a qualified 
accountant who worked as a 
corporate financier in life 
sciences at panmure gordon  
co between  989 and  996 he 
then moved into industry 
holding a number of financial 
positions at companies 
including the environmental 
consultancy enviros group 
limited and the biotechnology 
company plethora solutions 
plc prior to joining abcam as a 
financial consultant he was 
chief financial officer at st 
minver limited an ecommerce 
company that operates online 
gaming networks  abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
 5
mark webster bsc
nonexecutive director
mark webster has a bsc in 
chemistry from durham 
university he joined abbott 
laboratories in  988 and ran 
the uk pharmaceutical and 
hospital divisions before 
moving to montreal canada in 
 997 and then chicago usa in 
 999 as vice president of anti
virals us pharmaceuticals 
here he launched kaletra for 
hiv infection which generated 
 bn in revenue in 200 he 
joined shire pharmaceuticals 
as head of global strategic 
marketing and licensing
acquisitions and a member of 
the executive committee he 
then joined bayer healthcare in 
germany in 2004 as senior 
vice president head of global 
strategic marketing and 
licensingacquisitions and a 
member of bayer 
pharmaceutical’s management 
committee after joining the 
board as a nonexecutive 
director in july 2006 he 
became a fulltime director of 
abcam in march 2007 and 
reverted back to a non
executive role in november 
2007 mark is currently head of 
north america and global 
marketing for prostrakan
tony kouzarides phd
nonexecutive director
tony kouzarides has a bsc in 
molecular genetics from leeds 
university and a phd in virology 
from cambridge university he 
was subsequently awarded a 
research fellowship from 
fitzwilliam college cambridge 
from  986 to  989 he spent 
three years working as a 
research fellow in the laboratory 
of professor ed ziff at new york 
university medical centre 
where he discovered a 
fundamental principle 
underlying the association of 
proteins involved in human 
cancer he was awarded a 
professorship at cambridge 
university in  999 and now 
oversees a group of scientists 
studying genes and proteins 
associated with human 
cancers he has played a 
central role in expanding 
abcam’s own antibody product 
range into the chromatin 
research area 
peter keen bsc aca
nonexecutive director
peter keen is a chartered 
accountant with more than 24 
years’ experience in the 
financing and management of 
biotechnology companies after 
gaining experience in the 
agricultural biotechnology and 
medical diagnostics sectors he 
was a cofounder and finance 
director of chiroscience group 
plc he then helped establish 
merlin biosciences being 
responsible for a number of 
investments including ark 
therapeutics cyclacel 
reneuron and vectura more 
recently he was chief financial 
officer of arakis ltd until its 
successful trade sale in 2005 
and a partner with the 
technology venture firm dfj 
esprit he is currently 
corporate development and 
finance director of the private 
biotechnology company 
serentis ltd and a non
executive director of ark 
therapeutics plc and the 
biotech growth trust plc
tim dye ma
nonexecutive director
tim dye is a former chief 
executive of william ransom  
son plc a position he held until 
january 2008 through a series 
of acquisitions he led the 
transformation of william 
ransom into one of the uk’s 
largest natural healthcare 
groups prior to joining ransom 
in  999 and following an early 
career as a strategy consultant 
he founded and ran businesses 
in automated meter reading 
environmental management 
and property development he 
has an ma in economics from 
cambridge university abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
16
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directors
chairman 
dr david cleevely freng
chief executive officer 
dr jonathan milner 
chief financial officer
mr jeff iliffe
managing director 
mr jim warwick
nonexecutive directors 
mr tim dye
mr peter keen
prof tony kouzarides
mr mark webster
company secretary and registered office
mr tom mcguire
332 cambridge science park
cambridge
cb4 0fw
nominated advisor and broker
numis securities limited
the london stock exchange building
10 paternoster square
london
ec4m 7lt
solicitors to the company
eversheds llp
senator house
85 queen victoria street
london 
ec4v 4jl
auditors
deloitte  touche llp
chartered accountants
cambridge 
public relations advisors
buchanan communications limited
45 moorfields
london
ec2y 9ae
bankers
national westminster bank plc
king’s parade
cambridge
cb2 3pu
registrars
capita irg plc
northern house
woodsome park
fenay bridge
huddersfield 
hd8 0la
corporate 
directory abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
17
directors’ report
the directors present their annual report on the affairs of the 
group together with the financial statements and auditors’ report 
for the year ended 30 june 2008
principal activities and future developments
the group’s activities consist of the development marketing and 
selling of antibodies and closely related products the group sells 
through the internet to customers in most countries of the world the 
group operates through its parent company abcam plc and 
through its wholly owned subsidiaries abcam inc and abcam kk
the company is also increasing its own manufacturing capability 
through continued investment in a highthroughput production 
“htp” laboratory 
future developments are addressed in the individual director’s 
reviews at the front of this annual report
business review
the group’s management uses key performance indicators kpis 
to monitor the progress of the business important kpis are
 30 june  30 june 30 june
 2008 2007 2006
number of products published 44000 33900 23200
sales per employee £000 221 203 223
profit before tax to sales 223
1
 226 249
number of debtor days at  
 year end 34 44 45
sales increased by 497 in the year 491 on a constant 
exchange rate basis as a result of the launch of new products and 
continued increases in sales from the existing catalogue the 
group continued to generate strong margins and pretax profits 
increased by 482
1
 reflecting the cost of investments made in the 
year and higher levels of research and development expenditure
1  after adding back £025m costs relating to the potential offer process 
undertaken in the summer of 2007
the group’s cash and short term deposits remained at a strong 
level at £145m 2007 £107m
the directors are confident that the group has a solid basis for growth 
an overview of the business is set out in the chief executive officer’s 
and managing director’s reviews together with the financial review
principal risks and uncertainties
the group faces the competitive and strategic risks that are 
inherent in a rapidly growing market and the board and executive 
management keep future strategy under regular review
the group has an exposure to exchange rates in particular the 
strength of sterling relative to the us dollar and the euro although 
there are significant natural hedges in place due to the fact that the 
group is able to utilise a large proportion of its dollar and euro 
income to pay for outgoings in those currencies the group 
generates surpluses of both currencies the board’s policy for 
dealing with these is to sell forward some of the expected surplus 
currencies in order to reduce the short term exposure however if 
there are longer term movements in the relative strength of sterling 
then these will impact the group’s profits for further details of the 
group’s risk management strategy see note 26
the group’s activities involve importing and exporting its products 
across many international borders any changes to the regulations 
covering such movements might have an effect on the group’s 
trading activities
the company has made qualifying third party indemnity provisions 
for the benefit of its directors which were made during the reporting 
period and remain in force at the date of this report
research and development
the group undertakes research and development in areas related 
to its principal activities and this is discussed in the individual 
director’s reviews at the front of this annual report during the year 
the group spent £24m 2007 £17m on research and 
development 
dividends
the directors propose paying a final dividend of 456p 2007 
319p per ordinary share to be paid on 28 november 2008 to 
shareholders on the register on 7 november 2008 together with 
the interim dividend of 104p paid on 18 april 2008 this makes a 
combined dividend for the year of 560p 2007 399p
capital structure
details of the authorised and issued share capital together with 
details of the movements in the company’s issued share capital 
during the year are shown in notes 23 and 24 the company has 
one class of ordinary shares which carries no right to fixed income 
each share carries the right to one vote at general meetings of the 
company
there are no specific restrictions on the size of a holding nor on the 
transfer of shares which are both governed by the general 
provisions of the articles of association and prevailing legislation
with regard to the appointment and replacement of directors the 
company is governed by the articles of association the combined 
code the companies act and related legislation
directors
the interests of the directors in the share capital of the company at 
30 june 2008 other than with respect to share options which are 
detailed in the directors’ remuneration report were as follows
  1p ordinary 1p ordinary 
  shares on shares on 
   30 june 2008 30 june 2007
david cleevely  3569760 4669760
tim dye  nil nil 
peter keen  8982 8982
tony kouzarides  114244 359080
mark webster  nil nil
jonathan milner  8044960 9044960 
jim warwick  836200 826200
jeff iliffe  nil nil
in line with the principles set out in the combined code on corporate 
governance david cleevely and tony kouzarides who have each 
been directors of the company since april 1998 will offer themselves 
for reelection at the forthcoming annual general meeting at the 
meeting jim warwick will also stand for reelection as will jeff iliffe 
who was appointed as a director during the year abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
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supplier payment policy
it is the group’s policy that payments to suppliers are made in 
accordance with the terms and conditions agreed with them 
provided that the supplier has provided the goods or services in 
accordance with the agreed terms and conditions
on 30 june 2008 the group had an average of 30 days of 
purchases 2007 55 outstanding in trade creditors
charitable and political donations and 
community support
abcam participates actively in the community of entrepreneurial 
businesses clustered around cambridge abcam supports both  
the cambridge network and the university of cambridge and the 
judge business school both by giving talks and presentations on 
our business as well as hosting projects for mba students abcam 
takes students from secondary education on workexperience 
programmes as well as occasional international exchange students 
on placement 
the company encourages employees to get involved in local 
charitable activities we allocate 01 of pretax profit for charitable 
donations which are split between the us uk and japanese 
offices these are allocated by a committee of staff volunteers 
working within guidelines set down by the directors 
the group made no political donations 2007 nil and made £4272 
charitable donations 2007 £1907
substantial shareholdings
other than directors’ interests which are set out above at 28 august 
2008 shareholders with a greater than 3 interest in the issued 
share capital of the company were
standard life investments limited 1187
artemis investment management 767
blackrock investment management 590
morley fund management 417 
ubs zurich 342 
fidelity investments 322
corporate social and ethical policies
abcam recognises the importance of balancing the interests of all 
our key stakeholders – our customers shareholders employees 
suppliers and the communities in which we operate management 
of the environmental and social issues that play a part in our 
business is a key factor in our strategy for success and in the 
practice of good corporate governance 
the group places considerable value on the involvement of its 
employees and has continued to keep them informed of the various 
factors affecting the performance of the group this is achieved 
through formal and informal meetings equity based incentives are 
made available to all employees of the group in addition there is a 
profit sharing scheme based on the overall profitability of the 
group
applications for employment by disabled persons are always fully 
considered bearing in mind the aptitudes of the applicant 
concerned it is the policy of the group that the training career 
development and promotion of disabled employees should as far 
as possible be identical to that of other employees the group 
needs highlyqualified staff and does not see age colour disability 
ethnic origin gender political or other opinion as a barrier to 
employment
the group aspires to carry out its business to the highest of ethical 
standards treating employees suppliers and customers in a 
professional courteous and honest manner the group has an 
ethical policy which is reviewed by the board and which we apply 
to our products this includes reviewing and where appropriate 
visiting our suppliers to check the standards they follow in their 
products and services 
health  safety and environment
abcam seeks to provide and maintain safe and healthy working 
conditions equipment and systems for all our employees as far as 
is reasonably practicable and to provide such information training 
and supervision as may be needed for this purpose 
the group complies with legislation however where best practice 
demands higher standards it endeavours to apply these wherever 
reasonably practicable 
health  safety hs in the group is ultimately the responsibility of 
the ceo and is run by a health  safety coordinator as chair of the 
hs committee this committee uses appropriate advice from 
external hs specialist consultants 
abcam seeks wherever possible to minimise its impact on the 
environment for the benefit of its staff and the public at large the 
group is committed to complying with environmental regulations 
and encourage and support staff in waste recycling within our 
offices
going concern
the directors are satisfied that the group has adequate resources 
to continue its operations for the foreseeable future and for this 
reason they continue to prepare the financial statements on a 
goingconcern basis
auditors
in the case of each of the directors of the company at the date on 
which this report was approved
 as far as each of the directors is aware there is no relevant audit 
information as defined in the companies act 1985 of which the 
company’s auditors are unaware
 each of the directors has taken all the steps that he ought to have 
taken as a director to make himself aware of any relevant audit 
information as defined and to establish that the company’s 
auditors are aware of that information
this confirmation is given and should be interpreted in accordance 
with the provision of s234za of the companies act 1985
deloitte  touche llp have expressed their willingness to continue 
in office as auditors and a resolution to reappoint them will be 
proposed at the forthcoming annual general meeting
approved by the board and signed on their behalf by
david cleevely freng
chairman
8 september 2008
•
•
directors’ report
continued abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
19
corporate governance
although not required to do so by the aim listing rules the directors 
have chosen to provide selected corporate governance disclosures 
with this report which they consider valuable to the readers
the directors believe that effective corporate governance 
appropriate to the group considering its size and stage of 
development will assist in the delivery of corporate strategy the 
generation of shareholder value and the safeguarding of 
shareholders’ longterm interests the directors are committed 
therefore wherever it is reasonably practicable to ensure that the 
group is managed in accordance with the principles set out in the 
revised combined code on corporate governance “the code”
the role and composition of the board
the board comprises a nonexecutive chairman who is not 
deemed to be independent because of his shareholding three  
fulltime executive directors and four other nonexecutive 
directors two of whom are deemed not to be independent tony 
kouzarides because of the size of his shareholding and mark 
webster because he has been employed in an executive capacity 
during the last five years 
the roles of chairman and chief executive are vested in separate 
individuals each with clear allocation of accountability and 
responsibility the chairman has prime responsibility for running 
the board and the chief executive officer has executive 
responsibilities for the company’s strategic development 
operations and results 
the structure of the board and the integrity of each director 
ensures that there is no one individual or group dominating the 
decision making process
the board holds full meetings every second month the principal 
matters that it considers are as follows
 monthly management accounts key performance indicators and 
performance against budget
 regular reviews of rd operations and product line acquisitions
 an annual review of strategic objectives and group priorities
 the group budget
 reporting including statutory accounts dividend policy dividend 
payments and the agm
 performance of the board and subcommittees
 reports of the audit nomination and remuneration committees
 an annual review of riskmanagement strategy and controls and 
a sixmonthly review of the risk register
 matters relating to the company’s obligations as a listed 
company and
 management of funds and major capital expenditure including 
proposals for mergers or acquisitions of other companies or 
product lines
in those months when the board does not meet members continue 
to be informed on a formal reporting basis of financial results and 
key issues the board is supplied with information in a timely 
manner and in a form and of a quality appropriate to enable it to 
discharge its duties directors receive appropriate induction on 
joining the board and regularly update their skills and knowledge
the board has a policy to set out which matters are reserved for the 
decision of the board and to clarify those matters which the 
executive directors need not refer for approval 
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
this policy also identifies those matters regarding which full 
delegation to a board committee is not normally permitted because 
a final decision on the matter is required to be taken by the whole 
board the terms and conditions for the appointment of non
executive directors are available for inspection matters which the 
board considers suitable for delegation are contained in the terms 
of reference of its committees
the board has established the following three committees
the audit committee
the nomination committee and
the remuneration committee
the membership and role of each committee is described in more 
detail below
the audit committee
the committee is made up of three nonexecutive directors one of 
whom the chairman is considered to be independent the 
chairman is peter keen who is a chartered accountant with david 
cleevely and tony kouzarides being the other directors on the 
committee
the committee has responsibility for the following matters
 to review the accounts and the key judgements and policies 
underlying them in relation to the interim and annual financial 
statements before they are submitted to the board for final 
approval
 to review the management’s reports on internal controls
 to review the group’s riskmanagement process including the 
adequacy of insurance cover
 to review the appointment of the external auditors together with 
the audit fee and
 to monitor the audit and nonaudit work of the external auditors 
including reviewing any management letters and the company’s 
response
as part of its procedures the committee discusses the interim and 
annual financial statements with the external auditors when 
appropriate noncommittee members are invited to attend during 
the period the committee has met twice on a formal basis and a 
number of times informally the committee is expected to continue 
to meet formally twice a year
the nomination committee
during the year under review the committee was made up of three 
nonexecutive directors one of whom was considered to be 
independent david cleevely was the chairman and peter keen 
and tony kouzarides were the other directors on the committee 
from 1 september 2008 tim dye an independent director took 
over as chairman with david cleevely remaining as a member of 
the committee
 the committee is responsible for the following matters
 to identify and nominate suitable candidates to fill vacancies on 
the board and
 to review succession planning for both directors and the 
management team
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
• abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
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the remuneration committee 
the committee is made up of three nonexecutive directors two of 
whom are deemed to be independent including the chairman peter 
keen is the chairman and david cleevely and tim dye are 
members
the committee is responsible for the following matters
 setting the basic pay of executive directors and the remuneration 
of the chairman
 setting a performancerelated bonus plan for the executive 
directors
 agreeing the allocation and term for the granting of share based 
incentives to executive directors
 determining the executive directors’ pension contributions and
 overseeing the overall annual pay review for the group
the committee aims to set levels of remuneration for executive 
directors that are appropriate for the size and complexity of the 
group it aims to see that a significant proportion of their 
remuneration package is performancerelated 
the committee is also responsible for overseeing the company’s 
profit share and its equity based incentive schemes which are 
reviewed each year
internal control 
the board acknowledges its responsibility for safeguarding the 
shareholders’ investment and the group’s assets in applying this 
principle the board recognises that it has overall responsibility for 
ensuring that the group maintains a system of internal control to 
provide it with reasonable assurance regarding effective and 
efficient operation internal financial control and compliance with 
laws and regulations 
through the audit committee the directors have reviewed the 
effectiveness of the internal controls and taken steps to ensure that 
the group has an appropriate control environment for its size and 
complexity the management team will ensure that the internal 
control environment develops with the size of the company with 
respect to the identification evaluation and monitoring of risk 
•
•
•
•
•
such systems which are designed to manage rather than eliminate 
the risk of failure to achieve business objectives will provide 
reasonable though not absolute assurance against material loss or 
misstatement
the board is committed to transparency in financial reporting 
internal control and external audit as demonstrated amongst other 
things by its reviewing of the group’s arrangements for its 
employees to raise concerns in confidence about possible 
wrongdoing in these areas which are formalised in a 
“whistleblowing” policy circulated to all employees and through the 
adoption of its policies and procedures for financial reporting
board performance evaluation
the board has recently undertaken an evaluation of its own 
performance the review involved detailed interviews with each 
director and the company secretary and covered the functioning of 
the board as a whole and the operation of each of the committees 
the review confirmed the high level of commitment and 
professionalism exercised by the board in the strategic and 
commercial leadership of the group it also concluded that the 
board and its individual members continue to perform effectively 
and operate within a framework of sound governance and 
practices which wherever it is reasonably practicable are 
consistent with the principles set out in the code
all directors are subject to election by shareholders at the first 
annual general meeting after their appointment and to reelection 
thereafter at intervals of no more than three years
dialogue with shareholders
the board believes it is important to have open communications 
with shareholders to this end the chief executive officer and 
chief financial officer working in consultation with the company’s 
corporate and pr advisors make themselves available and expect 
to meet with shareholders at least twice a year the board intends 
to give a presentation on the group’s progress at the forthcoming 
agm in november
corporate governance
continued abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
21
directors’ remuneration  
report
unaudited information
remuneration report
although not required by the aim listing rules the directors have 
chosen to provide directors remuneration disclosures in this report 
which they consider valuable to the readers
the group has a remuneration committee “the committee” 
which wherever possible is constituted in accordance with the 
recommendations of the code
during the course of the year independent consultants were 
retained to advise on remuneration policy and to benchmark the 
executive directors’ remuneration against that of a comparator 
group of companies with similar characteristics to abcam in terms 
of their size nature of operations historic growth achieved and 
market capitalisation
its recommendations on salary were implemented during the year 
and those on revised bonus arrangements have been implemented 
for the 200809 financial year a long term incentive plan for senior 
management including the executive directors is to be put to 
shareholders at the forthcoming agm
the review also covered the all employee share schemes and a 
share based incentive plan for all employees based in the uk will 
be adopted during the course of the current financial year details  
of which are set out below amendments are also proposed to the 
share option scheme for us based employees to make it more tax 
efficient for them which will also be put to shareholders at the agm 
remuneration policy
the four main elements of the remuneration package for the 
executive directors during the year were as follows
basic annual salary
a performance based bonus 
equity based incentives and
pension contributions
the group’s policy is that a substantial proportion of the remuneration 
of the executive directors should be performancerelated 
for future years the committee will ensure that
 it maintains a competitive package of total compensation 
commensurate with comparable packages available in similar 
companies and
 the interests of the executive directors are closely aligned with 
those of the company’s shareholders through the provision of 
share based incentives
basic salary
an executive director’s basic salary is determined by the 
committee and normally reviewed on 1 july each year following 
the independent review adjustments were made to the then 
existing salary levels during the year and annual increases were 
made with effect from 1 july 2008 in line with the recommendations 
of the review executive directors’ service contracts which include 
details of remuneration will be available for inspection at the agm
•
•
•
•
•
•
performancerelated payments
the bonus payable to executive directors is based on the financial 
performance of the group and the achievement of individual 
performance targets related to the strategic objectives for each 
individual in the 200708 financial year the financial performance 
based element was paid under the abcam profit share scheme 
pss under this scheme an amount is allocated to employees on a 
points based system for the year under review the amount to be 
paid through pss was dependent on the level of pretax profit 
achieved the amount allocated varying depending on the level of 
profitability 
the pss payment was not capped and payments on account from 
the pss were made each quarter although at no stage did they 
exceed 85 of the amount due until the audited accounts were 
approved the scheme applied to all staff including executive 
directors and bonuses were pensionable up to the “on target” 
profit level 
if financial and personal targets were met the bonus payable to 
executive directors was 50 of basic salary paid in cash
in the 200809 financial year these arrangements have been 
amended and the total “on target” bonus for executive directors will 
be 375 of basic salary paid in cash in a single payment once the 
audited accounts are approved 80 of the bonus is based on the 
achievement of a target profit figure and 20 on achievement of 
individual strategic objectives no payment is due under the profit 
based bonus if performance is less than 90 of target and the 
maximum payment is due at 105 of target the total bonus is 
capped at 75 of basic salary and none of the bonus is 
pensionable 
the pss scheme will operate for the 200809 financial year for all 
other employees of the group on the same basis as the year under 
review with increased profit targets the amount payable under 
pss is no longer pensionable
equity based incentives
existing arrangements
the principal form of equity based incentive used by the group 
since its flotation in november 2005 has been the abcam plc 2005 
plan all options granted under the plan since flotation have been 
based on outperformance of the ftse aim index measured on the 
third anniversary of the date of grant if the target is achieved then 
options will be exercisable during the next seven years subject to 
the rules of the scheme if the target is not met at the third 
anniversary then it will be monitored on certain dates over the next 
12 months if the target is met on any of those dates then the 
options become exercisable if the target is not met on any of those 
dates the options will lapse on the fourth anniversary 
in the year under review options were granted under the abcam plc 
2005 plan to the executive directors abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
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the following graph shows the performance against the aim index 
for the options issued since flotation which have not been forfeited 
subsequently if all the options had crystalised at 30 august 2008 
then all performance conditions in relation to the options would 
have been met details of these options are set out in note 25 to  
the financial statements 
sepoct nov dec jan feb mar apr may jun jul aug sep oct nov dec jan feb mar apr may jun jul aug
ftseallshareindex abcam ftseallshareindex abcam ftseallshareindex abcam
20
18
16
14
12
10
08
06
index
2006 2007 2008
the company has also established a nondiscretionary inland 
revenueapproved saye scheme in which the executive directors 
could participate under this scheme employees could contract to 
save any amount up to a maximum of £250 per month of their post
tax earnings for a period of either three or five years at the time of 
entering the contract the company offered the employee the option 
to acquire shares using the money that has been saved over the 
life of the contract the price at which the shares could be 
purchased will be the market value of the shares on the date 
immediately preceding the offer at a discount of 20 the recent 
takeup under the scheme has not been high since many employees 
are already at the allowable investment limits and it is not proposed 
to make any further offers to employees under this scheme
there were no options granted to executive directors under this 
scheme in the year under review
new arrangements
it is the intention to grant additional equity based incentives on a 
regular basis to the executive directors 
for the 200809 financial year it is proposed that a long term 
incentive plan “ltip” be introduced for senior executives 
including the executive directors with performance conditions 
which comply with guidelines and best practice governing the grant 
of sharebased incentives in a listed company to the extent to 
which the committee considers such practice to be appropriate to 
the group 
as part of the process to define the ltip a consultation exercise has 
been undertaken with major shareholders to seek their views
under the ltip awards will take the form of “nil paid” options and 
are subject to the achievement over three years of the following 
performance conditions
 50 of the award will depend on the company’s total 
shareholder return “tsr” as compared to a comparator group 
of companies where the company’s tsr is below the fiftieth 
percentile the option or award will not vest where the 
company’s tsr is at the seventy fifth percentile or higher of the 
comparator group the option or award will vest in its entirety 
where the company’s tsr is between the fiftieth and the 
seventyfifth percentile a proportion of the option or award will 
•
vest starting with 30 at the fiftieth percentile and rising 
proportionally to 100 at the seventyfifth percentile
 50 of the award will depend on growth in earnings per share at 
an average of less than 25 growth per annum equating to 
953 growth over the period the amount vesting under the 
award will be nil at average growth per annum of 33 equating 
to total growth of 1353 the award will vest in full at growth 
rates between these two figures the award will vest proportionately 
more information on the ltip can be found in the notice convening 
the annual general meeting in november at which shareholders 
will be asked to approve the adoption of the plan and award to 
executive directors
share incentive plan 
an hmrc approved share incentive plan “sip” will be introduced 
in october this year for all uk employees under the plan awards 
will be made as follows
share award
it is intended that annual awards will be made to uk based staff to 
a market value of up to £3000 each awards will take the form of an 
option with a nil exercise price and will vest after three years 
employment with the company
partnership shares
all uk based employees will be given the opportunity to invest up to 
£1500 per annum to acquire new shares in the company at market 
value if these shares are held for three years and the employee 
remains with the company during that time then they will also receive 
an additional share for each share acquired the total market value of 
the investment from employees will be capped at £90000
the abcam plc 2005 plan
options will also be granted under the existing abcam plc 2005 
plan to certain senior employees in the uk excluding the executive 
directors where the hmrc limits on the sip are not considered to 
provide appropriate levels of incentive 
it is also intended that the plan will also be amended to make it 
more tax efficient for us based employees to comply with us 
legislation these amendments will be put before shareholders at 
the annual general meeting in november 
in the period since listing on aim no equity based incentives have 
been granted to nonexecutive directors and there are no plans for 
any such grants in the future
pension arrangements
in the uk all employees including executive directors are invited 
to participate in the group personal pension plan which is money
purchase in nature the pensionable element of remuneration in the 
year under review was basic salary plus ontarget earnings from the 
pss during the year the group contributed 6 of ontarget 
earnings excluding the individual performance bonus to a group 
personal pension scheme in the name of each executive director 
from 200809 onwards payments due under the pss to all 
employees are no longer pensionable and the contribution to be 
made to the group personal pension scheme will be 12 of basic 
salary for each executive director
a flexible benefits scheme was introduced on 1 july 2007 for all 
employees of the company including executive directors under 
which the option to switch part of their basic pay into additional 
pension contributions or other benefits is available 
•
directors’ remuneration 
report
continued abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
23
audited information
remuneration details
    employer’s notional gain
 basic  performance pension on options
 salary allowances
1
 payments contributions
2
 exercised
3
 2008 total 2007 total
 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000
david cleevely 65 – – – – 65 57
peter keen 37 – – – – 37 33
tony kouzarides 29 – – – – 29 25
tim dye 27 – – – – 27 25
mark webster as executive director
4
 48 – 29 4 – 81 81
mark webster as nonexecutive director
4
 17 – – – – 17 17
jonathan milner 12 1 127 212 – 352 269
jim warwick 52 – 111 135 188 486 301
jeff iliffe appointed 20 november 2007 8 13 59 103 – 183 –
eddie powell
5
 retired 20 november 2007 38 – – 81 101 220 193
1  allowances paid to jeff iliffe were in respect of relocation expenses and to jonathan milner in respect of travel
2  the directors are remunerated through the company’s flexible benefits scheme under which they can elect to switch basic salary into pension contributions 
and other benefits to which the company adds the reduction in its national insurance contribution arising from the election having been made the basic 
salary entitlement of each executive director during the year was mark webster as executive director £47k jonathan milner £186k jim warwick £162k 
jeff iliffe £93k and eddie powell £48k 
3  the notional gain on options exercised is the market value of the shares at date of exercise less the exercise price payable the notional gain is before taking 
account of any tax liability that may arise
4  mark webster joined the board as non executive director on 1 july 2006 from 14 march 2007 to 30 october 2007 he served as an executive director before 
moving back to serve in a non executive capacity
5  the pension contribution made on behalf of eddie powell included an exgratia contribution of £50k which was made on his retirement from the company
directors had the following interests in options over 1p ordinary shares in the company
    
 share number of number of share    
 options at options granted  options exercised options at exercise
 30 june 2007 in the year  in the year 30 june 2008 price exercise period
david cleevely 40000 – – 40000 125p 310106 to 290915
peter keen 60000 – – 60000 150p 310106 to 261015
tony kouzarides 40000 – – 40000 125p 310106 to 290915
jonathan milner 40000 – – 40000 625p 270707 to 290915
 53571
1
 – – 53571 280p 080909 to 060916
 – 46004
1
 – 46004 413p 080511 to 070518
jim warwick 32000 – 32000 – 375p 160607 to 150613
 32000 – – 32000 50p 160608 to 150613
 40000 – 40000 – 625p 270707 to 290915
 42142
1
 – – 42142 280p 080909 to 060916
 4218
2
 – – 4218 224p 011109 to 010510
 – 41602
1
 – 41602 312p 081110 to 071117
jeff iliffe – 89743
1
 – 89743 312p 081110 to 071117
mark webster  167230
13
 – – – 296p  011107 to 010108
1  these options were granted under the abcam plc 2005 plan and are subject to the performance condition that the share price outperforms the ftse aim 
index at the third anniversary of grant if this is not the case performance will be tested on certain dates over the next 12 months and if the target is not met 
on any of those dates the options will lapse on the fourth anniversary
2  these options are granted under the save as you earn scheme options under the scheme are not subject to performance conditions 
3  these options lapsed on 31 december 2007
directors’ contracts
the notice periods for directors are as follows
       notice period 
      date of contract months
david cleevely      24 july 2007 1
peter keen      27 october 2005 1
tony kouzarides      24 july 2007 1
tim dye      26 may 2006 1
jonathan milner      10 june 2000 6
jeff iliffe      6 november 2007 6
jim warwick      1 september 2001 6
mark webster      10 july 2007 1 abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
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the directors are responsible for preparing the annual report 
directors’ remuneration report and the financial statements in 
accordance with applicable law and regulations
company law requires the directors to prepare financial statements 
for each financial year the directors are required by the ias 
regulation to prepare the group financial statements under 
international financial reporting standards ifrss as adopted  
by the european union and have also elected to prepare the parent 
company financial statements in accordance with ifrss as adopted 
by the european union the financial statements are also required 
by law to be properly prepared in accordance with the companies 
act 1985 and article 4 of the ias regulation 
international accounting standard 1 requires that financial 
statements present fairly for each financial year the company’s 
financial position financial performance and cash flows this 
requires the faithful representation of the effects of transactions 
other events and conditions in accordance with the definitions and 
recognition criteria for assets liabilities income and expenses set 
out in the international accounting standards board’s “framework 
for the preparation and presentation of financial statements” in 
virtually all circumstances a fair presentation will be achieved by 
compliance with all applicable ifrss however directors are also 
required to
properly select and apply accounting policies
 present information including accounting policies in a manner 
that provides relevant reliable comparable and understandable 
information and 
 provide additional disclosures when compliance with the  
specific requirements in ifrss are insufficient to enable  
users to understand the impact of particular transactions  
other events and conditions on the entity’s financial  
position and financial performance
•
•
•
the directors are responsible for keeping proper accounting 
records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the 
financial position of the company and enable them to ensure that 
the financial statements comply with the companies act 1985 they 
are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the company 
and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and 
detection of fraud and other irregularities
the directors are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of 
the corporate and financial information included on the company’s 
website legislation in the united kingdom governing the 
preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ 
from legislation in other jurisdictions
by order of the board
david cleeveley freng jeff iliffe
chairman   chief financial officer
statement of directors’ 
responsibilities abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
25
we have audited the group and parent company financial 
statements the “financial statements” of abcam plc for the year 
ended 30 june 2008 which comprise the group income statement 
the group statement of recognised income and expense the group 
and parent company balance sheets the group and parent 
company cash flow statements and the related notes 1 to 30 
these financial statements have been prepared under the 
accounting policies set out therein we have also audited the 
information in the directors’ remuneration report that is described 
as having been audited
this report is made solely to the company’s members as a body  
in accordance with section 235 of the companies act 1985 our 
audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the 
company’s members those matters we are required to state to  
them in an auditors’ report and for no other purpose to the fullest 
extent permitted by law we do not accept or assume responsibility 
to anyone other than the company and the company’s members as 
a body for our audit work for this report or for the opinions we 
have formed
respective responsibilities of directors  
and auditors
the directors’ responsibilities for preparing the annual report the 
directors’ remuneration report and the financial statements in 
accordance with applicable law and international financial 
reporting standards ifrss as adopted by the european union 
are set out in the statement of directors’ responsibilities
our responsibility is to audit the financial statements and the part of 
the directors’ remuneration report to be audited in accordance 
with relevant legal and regulatory requirements and international 
standards on auditing uk and ireland
we report to you our opinion as to whether the financial statements 
give a true and fair view and whether the financial statements and 
the part of the directors’ remuneration report to be audited have 
been properly prepared in accordance with the companies act 
1985 and as regards the group financial statements article 4 of  
the ias regulation we also report to you whether in our opinion  
the information given in the directors’ report is consistent with the 
financial statements
in addition we report to you if in our opinion the company has not 
kept proper accounting records if we have not received all the 
information and explanations we require for our audit or if 
information specified by law regarding directors’ remuneration and 
other transactions is not disclosed
we read the other information contained in the annual report as 
described in the contents section and consider whether it is 
consistent with the audited financial statements the other 
information comprises only the directors’ report the chairman’s 
review the ceo’s review the managing director’s review and the 
financial review we consider the implications for our report if we 
become aware of any apparent misstatements or material 
inconsistencies with the financial statements our responsibilities 
do not extend to any further information outside the annual report
basis of audit opinion
we conducted our audit in accordance with international  
standards on auditing uk and ireland issued by the auditing 
practices board an audit includes examination on a test basis of 
evidence relevant to the amounts and disclosures in the financial 
statements and the part of the directors’ remuneration report to  
be audited it also includes an assessment of the significant 
estimates and judgments made by the directors in the preparation 
of the financial statements and of whether the accounting policies 
are appropriate to the group’s and company’s circumstances 
consistently applied and adequately disclosed
we planned and performed our audit so as to obtain all the 
information and explanations which we considered necessary in 
order to provide us with sufficient evidence to give reasonable 
assurance that the financial statements and the part of the 
directors’ remuneration report to be audited are free from  
material misstatement whether caused by fraud or other  
irregularity or error in forming our opinion we also evaluated the 
overall adequacy of the presentation of information in the financial 
statements and the part of the directors’ remuneration report to  
be audited 
opinion
in our opinion
 the group financial statements give a true and fair view in 
accordance with ifrss as adopted by the european union  
of the state of the group’s affairs as at 30 june 2008 and of its 
profit for the year then ended
 the parent company financial statements give a true and fair 
view in accordance with ifrss as adopted by the european 
union as applied in accordance with the provisions of the 
companies act 1985 of the state of the parent company’s affairs 
as at 30 june 2008 
 the financial statements and the part of the directors’ 
remuneration report to be audited have been properly  
prepared in accordance with the companies act 1985 and as 
regards the group financial statements article 4 of the ias 
regulation and
 the information given in the directors’ report is consistent with 
the financial statements
deloitte  touche llp
chartered accountants and registered auditors 
cambridge united kingdom
8 september 2008
•
•
•
•
independent auditors’ report  
to the members of abcam plc abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
26
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      year ended year ended
      30608 30607
       restated
     notes £000 £000
revenue     5 36694  24519 
cost of sales      14389 10020
gross profit      22305  14499 
administration and management expenses      
 excluding share based compensation charge     12344 7590
share based compensation charge      173 142
total management and administration expenses     12517 7732
research and development expenses      
 excluding share based compensation charge     2398 1709
share based compensation charge      19 20
total research and development expenses      2417 1729
operating profit      7371  5038 
investment revenue     5 581  495 
profit before taxation       7952  5533 
tax      11 2062 1472
profit for the period from continuing operations    629 5890  4061 
earnings per share from continuing operations – pence
basic     13 1688 1174
diluted      13 1656 1143
 restated to reflect the adoption of ifrs as per note 30
all profit is attributable to equity holders of the parent
consolidated income statement
for the year ended 30 june 2008  abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
27
      year ended year ended
      30608 30607
      £000 £000
lossesgains on cash flow hedges      168 168
exchange differences on translation of foreign operations     3  28
deferred tax on outstanding share options      502  30
net income recognised directly in equity      337  110 
profit for the year      5890 4061
total recognised income and expense for the year     6227 4171
consolidated statement  
of recognised income  
and expense  
for the year ended 30 june 2008  abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
28
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      30608 30607
       restated
     notes £000 £000
noncurrent assets
intangible assets     14 994  1691 
property plant and equipment     15 4204  2832 
      5198  4523 
current assets
inventories     17 4506  3102 
trade and other receivables     18 4860  4327 
cash and cash equivalents      18 13473  10709 
short term deposits     18 1020   –
derivative financial instruments     19 – 168 
      23859  18306 
total assets      29057  22829 
current liabilities
trade and other payables     21 4073 3045
current tax liabilities     21 382 248
provisions     22 96 75
derivative financial instruments     19 197 –
      4748 3368
net current assets      19111  14938 
noncurrent liabilities
deferred tax liabilities     20 78 188
deferred creditor     21 109 386
      187 574
total liabilities      4935 3942
net assets      24122  18887 
equity
share capital     2329 351  346 
share premium account     2429 10871  10619 
share based compensation reserve     29 483  251 
deferred tax reserve     29 758  256 
translation reserve     29 33 36
hedging reserve     29  – 168 
retained earnings     29 11692  7283 
equity attributable to equity holders of the parent     24122  18887
 restated to reflect the adoption of ifrs as per note 30
the financial statements were approved by the board of directors and authorised for issue on 8 september 2008
they were signed on its behalf by
jeff iliffe
director
consolidated balance sheet 
at 30 june 2008  abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
29
      30608 30607
       restated
     notes £000 £000
noncurrent assets
intangible assets     14 994  1691 
property plant and equipment     15 3976  2459 
investments     16 45  16 
      5015  4166 
current assets
inventories     17 4501  3089 
trade and other receivables     18 5144  4572 
cash and cash equivalents      18 11918  10055 
short term deposits     18 1020  –
derivative financial instruments     19 – 168 
      22583  17884 
total assets      27598  22050 
current liabilities
trade and other payables     21 3623 2864
current tax liabilities     21 269 243
provisions     22 96 75
derivative financial instruments     19 197 –
      4185 3182
net current assets      18398  14702 
noncurrent liabilities
deferred tax liabilities     20 178 188
deferred creditor     21 109 386
      287 574
total liabilities      4472 3756
net assets      23126  18294 
equity
share capital     2329 351  346 
share premium account     2429 10871  10619 
share based compensation reserve     29 444  251 
deferred tax reserve     29 758  256 
hedging reserve     29 – 168 
retained earnings     29 10702  6654 
      23126  18294
 restated to reflect the adoption of ifrs as per note 30
the financial statements were approved by the board of directors and authorised for issue on 8 september 2008
they were signed on its behalf by
jeff iliffe
director
company balance sheet 
at 30 june 2008  abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
30
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      year ended year ended
      300608 300607
       restated
     notes £000 £000
net cash from operating activities     28 7142 3426
investing activities
interest received      581  495 
proceeds on disposal of property plant and equipment     1 2 
purchase of property plant and equipment      2445 2316
purchase of intangible assets      274 1848
net cash used in investing activities      2139 3667
financing activities
dividends paid      1481 968
proceeds on issue of shares      257  47 
increase in short term deposits      1020  –
net cash used in financing activities      2244 921
net increasedecrease in cash and cash equivalents     2759  1162
cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year     10709  11884 
effect of foreign exchange rates      5  13
cash and cash equivalents at end of year      13473  10709
 restated to reflect the adoption of ifrs as per note 30
consolidated cash flow 
statement
for the year ended 30 june 2008  abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
31
      year ended year ended
      300608 300607
       restated
     notes £000 £000
net cash from operating activities     28 5858 2736
investing activities
interest received      561  504 
proceeds on disposal of property plant and equipment     1  4 
purchases of property plant and equipment     2434 2000
purchases of intangible assets      251 1848
investment in subsidiary      29 –
dividends received      401  269 
net cash used in investing activities      1751 3071
financing activities
dividends paid      1481 968
proceeds on issue of shares      257  46 
increase in short term deposits      1020 –
net cash used in financing activities      2244 922
net increasedecrease in cash and cash equivalents     1863  1257
cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year     10055  11312 
cash and cash equivalents at end of year      11918  10055 
 restated to reflect the adoption of ifrs as per note 30
company cash flow statement
for the year ended 30 june 2008  abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
32
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notes to the consolidated 
financial statements
for the year ended 30 june 2008
1 general information
abcam plc is a company incorporated in england and wales under the companies act 1985 the address of the registered office is 332 
cambridge science park milton road cambridge cb4 0fw united kingdom
the group’s activities consist of the development marketing and selling of antibodies and closely related products the group sells through 
the internet to customers in most countries of the world the group operates through its parent company abcam plc and through its wholly 
owned subsidiaries abcam inc and abcam kk
these financial statements are presented in pounds sterling because that is the currency of the primary economic environment in which the 
group operates foreign operations are included in accordance with the policies set out in note 2
2 significant accounting policies
basis of accounting
the financial statements have been prepared in accordance with international financial reporting standards ifrs for the first time the 
disclosures required by ifrs 1 concerning the transition from uk gaap to ifrs are given in note 30
at the date of authorisation of these financial statements the following standards and interpretations which have not been applied in these 
financial statements were in issue but not yet effective
ifrs 8 operating segments
ifric 12 service concession arrangements
ifric 13 customer loyalty programmes
ifric 14 ias 19 the limit of a defined benefit asset minimum funding requirements and their interaction
ifrs 2 share based payment amendment
ifrs 3 business combination amendment
ifrs 5 noncurrent assets held for sale and discontinued operations amendment
ias1 presentation of financial statements amendment
ias 16 property plant and equipment amendment
ias 19 employee benefits amendment
ias 20 accounting for government grants and disclosures of government assistance amendment
ias 23 borrowing costs amendment
ias 27 consolidated and separate financial statements amendment
ias 28 investments in associates amendment
ias 29 financial reporting in hyperinflationary economies amendment
ias 31 interests in joint ventures amendment
ias 32 financial instruments presentation amendment
ias 36 impairment of assets amendment
ias 38 intangible assets amendment
ias 39 financial instruments and measurement amendment
ias 40 investment property amendment
ias 41 agriculture amendment
the directors anticipate that the adoption of these standards and interpretations in future periods will have no material impact on the 
financial statements of the group except for additional disclosures on capital and financial instruments when the relevant standards come 
into effect for periods commencing on or after 1 april 2008
the financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention except for the revaluation of certain financial instruments 
the principal accounting policies adopted are set out below
basis of consolidation
the consolidated financial statements incorporate the financial statements of the company and entities controlled by the company made 
up to 30 june each year control is achieved where the company has the power to govern the financial and operating policies of an 
investee entity so as to obtain benefits from its activities
all intragroup transactions balances income and expenses are eliminated on consolidation
property plant and equipment
property plant and equipment is stated at cost less depreciation and any provision for impairment depreciation is provided at cost in equal 
instalments over the estimated lives of the fixed assets abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
33
2 significant accounting policies continued
the depreciation rates applied are shown below 
office equipment fixtures and fittings 20 per annum
laboratory equipment 20 per annum
computer equipment 33 per annum 
hybridomas 33 per annum
depreciation is accelerated if assets are deemed to have been impaired or there is a change in the residual economic life the remaining 
useful lives of assets are reassessed at each balance sheet date
intangible assets
expenditure on research activities is recognised as an expense in the period in which it is incurred
payments made to acquire distribution rights from third parties are capitalised and are amortised over the period of the agreement
these assets are amortised on a straight line basis over their estimated minimum useful lives of 3 years
intangible assets are reviewed for impairment both annually and when there is an indication that an asset may be impaired when events or 
changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value may not be recoverable the assets’ residual values useful lives and methods of 
valuation are reviewed and adjusted if appropriate at each financial year end
investments
investments held as fixed assets are stated at cost less provision for any impairment in value
inventories
inventories are stated at the lower of cost and net realisable value cost is calculated using the actual cost of the product when acquired  
or manufactured
the cost of abcam own manufactured inventory includes material direct labour and an attributable portion of production overheads based 
on normal levels of activity and is calculated using the standard cost method
net realisable value is based on the estimated selling price less further costs expected to be incurred to completion and disposal provision 
is made for obsolete slow moving or defective items where appropriate
trade and other receivables
trade receivables are measured at initial recognition at fair value appropriate allowances for estimated irrecoverable amounts are 
recognised in the income statement when there is objective evidence that the asset is impaired when a trade receivable is considered 
uncollectible it is written off against the allowance account subsequent recoveries of amounts previously written off are credited against 
the allowance account changes in the carrying amount of the allowance account are recognised in the income statement
derivative financial instruments
forward contracts are used by the group to manage its exposure to the risk associated with the variability in cash flows in relation to both 
recognised assets or liabilities and forecast transactions all derivative financial instruments are measured at the balance sheet date at their 
fair value
where derivative financial instruments are not designated as or not determined to be effective hedges any gain or loss on the 
remeasurement of the fair value of the instrument at the balance sheet date is taken to the income statement
at the inception of the hedge relationship the group documents the relationship between the hedging instrument and the hedged item 
along with its risk management objectives and its strategy for undertaking various hedge transactions furthermore at the inception of the 
hedge and on an ongoing basis the group documents whether the hedging instrument that is used in a hedging relationship is effective in 
offsetting changes in cash flows of the hedged item
changes in the fair value of derivatives that are designated and qualify as fair value hedges are recorded in the profit and loss immediately 
together with any changes in the fair value of the hedged item that is attributable to the hedged risk 
the effective portion of changes in the fair value of derivatives that are designated and qualify as cash flow hedges are deferred in equity 
the gain or loss relating to the ineffective portion is recognised immediately in profit or loss amounts deferred in equity are recycled in 
profit or loss in the periods when the hedged item is recognised in profit or loss abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
34
notes to the consolidated 
financial statements 
continued
for the year ended 30 june 2008
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2 significant accounting policies continued
hedge accounting is discontinued when the group revokes the hedging relationship the hedging instrument expires or is sold terminated 
or exercised or no longer qualifies for hedge accounting the adjustment to the carrying amount of the hedged item arising from the 
hedged risk is amortised to the income statement from that date any cumulative gain or loss deferred in equity at that time remains in 
equity and is recognised when the forecast transaction is ultimately recognised in the income statement when a forecast transaction is no 
longer expected to occur the cumulative gain or loss that was deferred in equity is recognised immediately in the income statement
a derivative is presented as a noncurrent asset or noncurrent liability if the remaining maturity of the instrument is more than 12 months 
and is not expected to be realised or settled within 12 months other derivatives are presented as current assets or liabilities
taxation
the tax expense represents the sum of the tax currently payable and deferred tax
the tax currently payable is based on taxable profit for the year taxable profit differs from net profit as reported in the income statement 
because it excludes some items of income or expense that are taxable or deductible in other years and it further excludes items that are 
never taxable or deductible the group’s liability for current tax is calculated using tax rates that have been enacted or substantively 
enacted by the balance sheet date
deferred tax is the tax expected to be payable or recoverable on differences between the carrying amount of assets and liabilities in the 
financial statements and the corresponding tax bases used in the calculation of the taxable profit and is accounted for using the balance 
sheet liability method deferred tax liabilities are generally recognised for all taxable temporary differences and deferred tax assets are 
recognised to the extent that it is probable that taxable profits will be available against which deductible temporary differences can be 
utilised such assets and liabilities are not recognised if the temporary difference arises from the initial recognition of goodwill or from the 
initial recognition of other assets and liabilities in a transaction that affects neither the taxable profit nor the accounting profit
deferred tax is calculated at the tax rates that are expected to apply in the period when the liability is settled or the asset is realised
the carrying amount of deferred tax assets is reviewed at each balance sheet date and reduced to the extent that it is no longer probable 
that sufficient taxable profits will be available to allow all or part of the asset to be recovered deferred tax is charged or credited in the 
income statement except where it relates to items charged or credited directly to equity in which case the deferred tax is also dealt with in 
equity
pensions
the group operates a defined contribution pension scheme in the uk which is open to all employees and directors of the company 
the amount charged to the income statement in respect of pension costs is the contribution payable in the year 
any differences between contributions payable in the year and contributions actually paid are shown either as accruals or prepayments in 
the balance sheet
the amount included in the income statement in the year in respect of the pension scheme was £815000 2007 £253000 the amounts 
included in creditors at 30 june 2008 in relation to the pension scheme is £65000 2007 £38000
leases
leases are classified as financial leases whenever the terms of the lease transfer substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership to the 
lessee all other leases are classified as operating leases
rentals payable under operating leases are charged to income on a straightline basis over the term of the relevant lease benefits received 
and receivable under an operating lease are also spread on a straightline basis over the lease term
assets held under finance leases are recognised as assets of the group at their fair value or if lower at the present value of the minimum 
lease payments each determined at the inception of the lease the corresponding liability to the lessor is included in the balance sheet as 
a finance lease obligation lease payments are apportioned between finance charges and reduction of the lease obligation so as to 
achieve a constant rate of interest on the remaining balance of the liability finance charges are charged directly against income abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
35
2 significant accounting policies continued
foreign exchange
the individual financial statements of each group company are presented in the currency of the primary economic environment in which it 
operates its functional currency for the purposes of the consolidated financial statements the results and financial position of each group 
company are expressed in pounds sterling which is the functional currency of the company and the presentation currency for the 
consolidated financial statements
in preparing the financial statements of the individual companies transactions in currencies other than the entity’s functional currency 
foreign currencies are recorded at the rates of exchange prevailing at the dates of the transactions at each balance sheet date monetary 
assets and liabilities that are denominated in foreign currencies are retranslated to the rates prevailing at the balance sheet date non
monetary items carried at fair value are translated at the rates prevailing at the date when the fair value was determined nonmonetary 
items that are measured in terms of historical cost in a foreign currency are not retranslated
for the purpose of presenting consolidated financial statements the results of the operations of the company’s overseas subsidiaries 
abcam inc and abcam kk are translated at the average rate of exchange during the period and their balance sheets at the rates ruling at 
the balance sheet date exchange differences arising on the translation of the opening net assets and results of operations are classified as 
equity and recognised in the group’s foreign currency translation reserve
the treatment of exchange differences on transactions entered into to hedge certain foreign currency risks is detailed under derivative 
financial instruments above
all other differences are included in the income statement in the period in which they arise
share based payments
the group has applied the requirements of ifrs 2 sharebased payment in accordance with the transitional provisions ifrs 2 has been 
applied to all grants of equity instruments after 7 november 2002 that were unvested at 1 july 2006
the group issues equitysettled share based payments to certain employees equitysettled share based payments are measured at the 
fair value excluding the effect of nonmarket based vesting conditions at the date of the grant the fair value determined at the grant date 
of the equitysettled share based payments is expensed on a straight line basis over the vesting period based on the group’s estimate of 
the number of shares that will eventually vest there are both market and nonmarket based performance conditions attached to the vesting 
and exercising of equity instruments fair value is measured by the use of the monte carlo simulation the expected life used in the model 
has been adjusted based on management’s best estimate for the effects of the nontransferability exercise restrictions and behavioural 
considerations charges made to the income statement in respect of sharebased payments are credited to retained earnings
revenue recognition
revenue is measured at the fair value of the consideration received or receivable and represents amounts receivable for goods and 
services provided in the normal course of business net of discounts vat and other sales related taxes
sales of goods are recognised when goods are delivered and title has passed
interest income is accrued on a time basis by reference to the principal outstanding and the effective interest rate applicable
dividend income from investments is recognised when the shareholders’ rights to receive payment have been established
cash and cash equivalents
cash and cash equivalents comprise cash on hand and demand deposits and other short term highly liquid investments that are readily 
convertible to a known amount of cash and are subject to an insignificant risk of changes in value
trade and other receivables
trade and other receiveables do not carry any interest and are stated at their nominal value as reduced by appropriate allowances for 
estimated irrecoverable amounts
provisions
provisions are recognised when the group has a present obligation as a result of a past event and it is probable that the group will be 
required to settle the obligation at the balance sheet date and are discounted to present value where the effect is material abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
36
notes to the consolidated 
financial statements 
continued
for the year ended 30 june 2008
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3 critical accounting judgements and estimates
in the application of the group’s accounting policies which are described in note 2 the directors are required to make estimates and 
assumptions in accordance with ifrs that affect the amounts reported as assets and liabilities as at the date of reporting the financial 
statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenditure during the year in preparation of the consolidated financial statements 
estimates and assumptions have been made by the directors concerning the fair value of share options the estimated useful lives of fixed 
assets accruals and provisions required the carrying value of investments the recoverability of deferred tax assets the carrying value of 
intangible assets and other similar evaluations actual amounts that result could differ from those estimates
the estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the 
period in which the estimate is revised if the revision affects only that period or in the period of the revision and future periods if the revision 
affects both current and future periods
key sources of estimation uncertainty
the key assumptions concerning the future and other sources of estimation uncertainty at the balance sheet date that have a risk of 
causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities or the most significant effect on the amounts recognised  
in financial statements are
impairment of intangibles
during the year management renegotiated a product line acquisition deal consequently it was considered that the carrying value of the 
intangible was overstated and it was adjusted to take account of the anticipated future sales and the risk associated with the contract
fair value of derivatives and other financial instruments
as described in note 26 the directors use their judgement in selecting an appropriate valuation technique for financial instruments not 
quoted in an active market valuation techniques commonly used by market practitioners are applied for derivative financial instruments 
assumptions are made based on quoted market rates adjusted for specific features of the instrument other financial instruments are valued 
using a discounted cash flow analysis based on assumptions supported where possible by observable market prices or rates
valuation of own manufactured inventory
the standard costs used for the valuation of own manufactured inventory require a number of assumptions concerning the allocation of 
overheads these assumptions are based primarily on management’s estimates of time spent in each relevant area of activity
provision for obsolete stock
the provision for obsolete stock is based on management’s estimation of the commercial life of inventory lines and is applied on a prudent 
basis in assessing this management takes in to consideration the sales history of products and the length of time that they have been 
available for resale
4 income statement for the company
the profit for the financial year dealt with in the financial statements of the company was £5126000 2007 £3687000
5 business and geographical segments
geographical segments
the group’s operations are located in the uk usa and japan
business segments
the directors consider that there are no identifiable business segments that are engaged in providing individual products or services or a 
group of related products and services that are subject to risks and returns that are different to the core business abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
37
5 business and geographical segments continued
   north  uk and  
   america europe rest of world japan total
   year ended year ended year ended year ended year ended
   30608 30608 30608 30608 30608
   £000 £000 £000 £000 £000
revenue
total revenue   16947  10748  6884  2115  36694 
result
segment result   1046  5198  3327  215  9786 
unallocated corporate expenses       2415
operating profit       7371 
investment revenues       581 
profit before tax       7952 
tax       2062
profit after tax       5890 
other information
capital additions   28   – 2744  4  2776 
depreciation and amortisation   172   – 1255  10  1437 
impairment losses recognised in income   – – 642  – 642 
balance sheet
assets
segment assets   2946   – 25384  727  29057 
consolidated total assets       29057 
liabilities
segment assets   307  – 4377 251 4935
consolidated total liabilities       4935 abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
38
notes to the consolidated 
financial statements 
continued
for the year ended 30 june 2008
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5 business and geographical segments continued
   north  uk and  
   america europe rest of world japan total
   year ended year ended year ended year ended year ended
   30607 30607 30607 30607 30607
   £000 £000 £000 £000 £000
revenue
total revenue   12815  5899  5077  728  24519
result
segment result   768  3254  2823  78 6767
unallocated corporate expenses       1729
operating profit       5038
investment revenues       495
profit before tax       5533
tax       1472
profit after tax       4061
other information
capital additions   285   – 3848  31  4164
depreciation and amortisation   117   – 673  5  795
balance sheet
assets
segment assets   2133   – 20131  565  22829
consolidated total assets       22829
liabilities
segment liabilities   154  – 3757 31 3942
consolidated total liabilities       3942
6 profit for the year
profit for the year has been arrived at after charging crediting
      year  year
      ended ended
      30608 30607
      £000 £000
net foreign exchange lossesgains      136 283
operating lease rentals – land and buildings note 9     545 237
depreciation and amortisation of owned assets     1437 795
impairment loss on intangible assets      642  –
cost of inventories recognised as an expense     13850 9692
writedown of inventories recognised as an expense     539 328
staff costs note 8      7308 5250
impairment loss recognised on trade receivables     367 153
legal fees associated with potential offer for group     250  –
auditors’ remuneration note 7      91 152 abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
39
7 auditors’ remuneration
      year  year
      ended ended
      30608 30607
      £000 £000
the analysis of the auditors’ remuneration is as follows
fees payable to the company’s auditors for the audit of the company’s annual accounts   75 79
total audit fees      75 79
fees payable to the company’s auditors for other services to the group
– tax services       13 73
– employment benefits      3  –
total nonaudit fees      16 73
8 staff costs
group
the average monthly number of employees including executive directors was
      year  year
      ended ended
      30608 30607
      number number
management administrative marketing and distribution     130 101
laboratory      36 20
      166 121
their aggregate remuneration comprised
      year  year
      ended ended
      30608 30607
      £000 £000
wages and salaries      5776 4369
social security costs      525 466
pension costs      815 253
charge in respect of share options granted      192 162
      7308 5250
company
the average monthly number of employees including executive directors was
      year  year
      ended ended
      30608 30607
      number number
management administrative marketing and distribution     88 69
laboratory      36 20
      124 89 abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
40
notes to the consolidated 
financial statements 
continued
for the year ended 30 june 2008
job	 11373	abcam		backaw	 proof	 05	 proof read by
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server	 studio	i	 setup	 tim	 first	readrevisions
8 staff costs continued
their aggregate remuneration comprised
      year  year
      ended ended
      30608 30607
      £000 £000
wages and salaries      4508 3511
social security costs      350 359
other pension costs      776 233
charge in respect of share options granted      162 162
      5796 4265
9 operating lease arrangements
      year  year
      ended ended
      30608 30607
      £000 £000
minimum lease payments under operating leases recognised as an expense in the year   545 237
at the balance sheet date the group had outstanding commitments for future minimum lease payments under noncancellable operating 
leases which fall due as follows
group
      30608 30607
      £000 £000
within one year       651 197
in the second to fifth years inclusive      1615 631
      2266 828
company
      30608 30607
      £000 £000
within one year       392 197
in the second to fifth years inclusive      996 631
      1388 828
10 other gains or losses 
      year  year
      ended ended
      30608 30607
      £000 £000
lossgain in fair value of forward exchange contracts
– on contracts used as hedging instruments      – 1
– on other contracts see accounting policy note for derivative financial instruments   197  – abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
41
11 tax
      year  year
      ended ended
      30608 30607
      £000 £000
current tax       1632 1159
deferred tax note 20      430 313
      2062 1472
corporation tax is calculated at 295 2007 30 of the estimated assessable profit for the year
taxation for other jurisdictions is calculated at the rates prevailing in the respective jurisdictions
the charge for the year can be reconciled to the profit per the income statement as follows
    year  year  year  year 
    ended ended ended ended
    30608 30608 30607 30607
    £000  £000 
profit before tax     7952  5533 
tax at the uk corporation tax rate of 295 2007 30   2346  2950 1660  3000
effect of different tax rates of subsidiaries operating in different jurisdictions 158  199 110  199
tax effect of expenses that are not deductible in determining taxable profit  75  094 9  016
rd tax credit uplift    325 409 199 360
deduction for exercise for share options    122 153 108 195
prior year adjustments    70 088  –  –
tax expense and effective rate for the year     2062  2593 1472 2660
12 dividends
      year  year
      ended ended
      30608 30607
      £000 £000
amounts recognised as distributions to equity holders in the year
final dividend for the year ended 30 june 2007 of 319p 2006 200p per share   1116 691
interim dividend for the year ended 30 june 2008 of 104p 2007 080p per share   365 277
      1481 968
proposed final dividend for the year ended 30 june 2008 of 456p 2007 319p per share   1599 1105
the proposed final dividend is subject to approval of the shareholders at the annual general meeting and has not been included as a 
liability in these financial statements abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
42
notes to the consolidated 
financial statements 
continued
for the year ended 30 june 2008
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13 earnings per share
the calculation of the basic and diluted earnings per share is based on the following data
      year  year
      ended ended
      30608 30607
      £000 £000
earnings
earnings for the purposes of basic and diluted earnings      
 per share being net profit attributable to equity holders of the parent    5890 4061
number of shares
weighted average number of ordinary shares for the purposes of the basic earnings per share  34902538 34572810
effect of dilutive potential ordinary shares
 share options      671614 943674
weighted average number of ordinary shares for the purposes of diluted earnings per share  35574152 35516484
basic earnings per share is calculated by dividing the earnings attributable to ordinary shareholders by the weighted average number of 
shares outstanding during the year diluted earnings per share is calculated on the same basis as the basic earnings per share but with a 
further adjustment for the weighted average shares in issue to reflect the effect of all dilutive potential ordinary shares the number of 
dilutive potential ordinary shares is derived from the number of share options granted to employees where the exercise price is less than 
the average market price of the company’s ordinary shares during the year
14 intangible assets
group and company
     upfront distribution
     licence fees rights total
     £000 £000 £000
cost
at 1 july 2007     150 1798 1948
additions     15  237 252
disposals     1  – 1
revaluation for impairment      – 642 642
at 30 june 2008     164 1393 1557
amortisation 
at 1 july 2007     68 189 257
charge for the year     53 254 307
disposals     1  – 1
at 30 june 2008     120 443 563
carrying amount
at 30 june 2007     82 1609 1691
at 30 june 2008     44 950 994
the amortisation period for the upfront licence fees is 3 years the amortisation period for the distribution rights is the term of the deal the 
impairment loss is in respect of the reduction in the forecast revenues and profits of one of the distribution rights agreements abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
43
15 property plant and equipment
group
     office
     equipment   
   computer laboratory fixtures 
   equipment equipment and fittings hybridomas total
   £000 £000 £000 £000 £000
cost
at 1 july 2007   454 2531 948  – 3933
additions   158 2168 166 22 2514
exchange differences   4 1 2  – 7
disposals   28 21 5  – 54
at 30 june 2008   588 4679 1111 22 6400
accumulated depreciation
at 1 july 2007   218 346 537  – 1101
charge for the year   149 709 269 3 1130
exchange differences   23 9 5  – 37
eliminated on disposals   1  – 1  – 2
at 30 june 2008   345 1046 802 3 2196
carrying amount
at 30 june 2007   236 2185 411  – 2832
at 30 june 2008   243 3633 309 19 4204
company
     office
     equipment   
   computer laboratory fixtures 
   equipment equipment and fittings hybridomas total
   £000 £000 £000 £000 £000
cost
at 1 july 2007   344 2286 750  – 3380
additions   143 2161 156 22 2482
disposals   26 20 2  – 48
at 30 june 2008   461 4427 904 22 5814
accumulated depreciation
at 1 july 2007   180 292 449  – 921
charge for the year   113 660 172 3 948
eliminated on disposals   21 9 1  – 31
at 30 june 2008   272 943 620 3 1838
carrying amount
at 30 june 2007   164 1994 301  – 2459
at 30 june 2008   189 3484 284 19 3976 abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
44
notes to the consolidated 
financial statements 
continued
for the year ended 30 june 2008
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16 investments
the company’s subsidiaries at 30 june 2008 are
      proportion proportion 
     country of of shares of voting 
     incorporation held power held
abcam inc     usa 100 100
abcam kk     japan 100 100
camgene     uk 100 100
abcam inc and abcam kk are involved in the sale and distribution of antibodies camgene is dormant
analysis of changes in investments
       £000
cost
at 1 july 2007       16
additions       29
at 30 june 2008       45
investments are held at cost less provision for impairment all additions represent share based payment charges for share options issued 
by the company to employees of the subsidiaries
17 inventories
    group company group company
    30608 30608 30607 30607
    £000 £000 £000 £000
goods for resale    4506 4501 3102 3089
18 financial assets
    group company group company
    30608 30608 30607 30607
    £000 £000 £000 £000
trade and other receivables
amounts receivable for the sale of goods    4288  2470  3539  1905 
allowance for doubtful debts    591 413 224 197
    3697  2057  3315  1708 
owed by subsidiary undertakings     – 2169   – 1461 
other debtors    499  292  543  979 
prepayments    664  626  469  424 
    4860  5144  4327  4572 
the average credit period taken for sales is 344 days 2007 443 days no interest is charged on the receivables trade receivables are 
provided for based on estimated irrecoverable amounts determined by reference to past default experience the group and company have 
provided fully for all amounts over 120 days because historical experience is such that receivables that are past due 120 days are not 
generally recoverable trade receivables between 30 days and 120 days are provided for based on estimated irrecoverable amounts from 
the sale of goods determined by reference to past default experience
credit limits for each customer are reviewed on a monthly basis there are no customers who represent more than 5 of the total balance 
of trade receivables
the analysis below show the balances included in debtors which are past due at the reporting date for which the group or company has 
not provided as there has not been a significant change in credit quality and the amounts are still considered recoverable abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
45
18 financial assets continued
ageing of past due but not impaired receivables
    group company group company
    30608 30608 30607 30607
    £000 £000 £000 £000
3060 days    242 111 297 144
6090    48 48 231 121
90 days     –  – 331 181
total    290 159 859 446
during the year the group has formalised and improved the credit control procedures this has resulted in a noticeable improvement in the 
ageing of the debtors
movement in the allowance for doubtful debts
    group company group company
    30608 30608 30607 30607
    £000 £000 £000 £000
balance at the beginning of the year    224 198 85 46
impairment losses recognised    367 215 139 152
balance at the end of the year    591 413 224 198
in determining the recoverability of a trade receivable the group and company consider any change in the credit quality of the receivable 
from the date credit was initially granted up to the reporting date the concentration of credit risk is limited due to the customer base being 
large and unrelated accordingly the directors believe that there is no further credit provision required in excess of the allowance for 
doubtful debts
included in the allowance for doubtful debts are individually impaired trade receivables with a balance of £289000 2007 £121000 
relating to companies in financial difficulties the impairment recognised represents the difference between the carrying amount of these 
trade receivables and the present value of the expected litigation proceeds neither the group or the company hold collateral over these 
balances
ageing of impaired receivables
      30608 30607
      £000 £000
6090 days      38  –
90 days      553 224
total      591 224
the directors consider that the carrying amount of trade and other receivables approximates their fair value
cash and cash equivalents and short term deposits
    group company group company
    30608 30608 30607 30607
    £000 £000 £000 £000
cash and cash equivalents and short term deposits   14493 12938 10709 10055
cash and cash equivalents and short term deposits comprise cash held by the group and shortterm deposits with an original maturity of 
three months or less the carrying amount of these assets approximates their fair value abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
46
notes to the consolidated 
financial statements 
continued
for the year ended 30 june 2008
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19 derivative financial instruments
group and company
      current 
      30608 30607
      £000 £000
derivatives that are designated and effective as hedging instruments carried at fair value
 forward exchange contracts       – 168
derivatives carried at fair value through profit and loss fvtpl
 forward exchange contracts      197  –
      197 168
on 22 april 2008 all hedging instruments were dedesignated and the fair value adjustments on the outstanding forward exchange 
contracts were charged through the profit and loss
20 deferred tax
the following are the major deferred tax liabilities and assets recognised by the group and movements thereon during the current and prior 
reporting period
group
    accelerated share other
    tax based timing
    depreciation payment differences total
    £000 £000 £000 £000
at 1 july 2006    152 317  40  205
charge to income    397 46  15  336
charge to equity     – 57  – 57
at 30 june 2007    549 306  55  188
charge to income    332 224 126 430
credit to equity     – 540   – 540
at 30 june 2008    881 622  181  78
company
    accelerated share other
    tax based timing
    depreciation payment differences total
    £000 £000 £000 £000
at 1 july 2006    152 317  40  205
charge to income    397 46  15  336
charge to equity     – 57  – 57
at 30 june 2007    549 306  55  188
charge to income    338 54  54 230
credit to equity     – 240   – 240
at 30 june 2008    887 600  109  178
at the balance sheet date the aggregate amount of temporary differences associated with undistributable earnings of subsidiaries for 
which a deferred tax liability has not been recognised is £1028000 2007 £595000 no liability has been recognised in respect of these 
differences because the group is in a position to control the timing of the reversal of temporary differences and it is probable that such 
differences will not reverse in the foreseeable future abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
47
21 other financial liabilities
    group company group company
    30608 30608 30607 30607
    £000 £000 £000 £000
trade and other payables
trade creditors and accruals    3638  3221  2474  2309
deferred creditor    86  86  110  110
corporation tax    382  269  248  243
other taxes and social security    160  159  124  124
other creditors    189  157  337  321
    4455  3892  3293  3107
trade creditors and accruals principally comprise amounts outstanding for trade purchases and ongoing costs the average credit period 
taken for trade purchases is 17 days 2007 32 days at the end of the previous financial year it was decided that suppliers should be paid 
on a more frequent basis
most suppliers do not charge interest for the first 60 days of the invoice the group has financial risk management policies in place to 
ensure that all payables are paid within the credit time frame
the deferred creditor represents the earnout payable on sales of products under a distribution agreement see note 14 the portion 
payable in more than 12 months is included in noncurrent liabilities 2008 £109000 2007 £386000
the directors consider that the carrying amount of the trade and other payables approximates to their fair value
22 provisions
    group company group company
    30608 30608 30607 30607
    £000 £000 £000 £000
amounts payable under the loyalty scheme
opening balance    75 75 45 45
awarded in year     314 314 245 245
expired in year    184 184 133 133
redeemed in year    109 109 82 82
closing balance    96 96 75 75
this represents amounts awarded to customer under a loyalty scheme
23 share capital
group and company
      30608 30607
      £000 £000
authorised
1000000 ordinary shares of 1p each      1000 1000
issued and fully paid
35066781 2007 34623384 ordinary shares of 1p each     351 346
the company operates a number of share option schemes for certain employees of the group details are provided in note 25 abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
48
notes to the consolidated 
financial statements 
continued
for the year ended 30 june 2008
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24 share premium
group and company
       £000
balance at 1 july 2006       10573
premium arising on issue of equity shares       46
balance at i july 2007       10619
premium arising on issue of equity shares       252
balance at 30 june 2008       10871
there were no costs of issue
25 sharebased payments
equitysettled share option scheme
the company operates a number of share option schemes for certain employees of the group the share based compensation charge is 
made up from option awards from the emi plan unapproved share option plan the us employees share option plan and the saye plan 
option grants under each scheme have been aggregated
the vesting period is from one to three years other than for those options with performance criteria which vest when the criteria are met if 
the options remain unexercised after a period of ten years from the date of grant the options expire options are forfeited if the employee 
leaves the group before the options vest the fair value of the options at the date of grant is the market price
the volatility of the options is based on the long term average volatility in the share price of five quoted companies that are considered to 
have a reasonable comparability with abcam plc the dividend yield is based on abcam’s actual dividend yield in the past
the risk free rate is the yield on uk government gilts at each date of grant
the employee exercise multiple is based on published statistics for a portfolio of companies
the employee exit rate is based on management’s expectations and in accordance with ifrs 2 is applied after vesting
details of the share options outstanding during the year are as follows
summary of all schemes
options outstanding as at 30 june 2008 had an exercise price of between 10p and 413p 2007 10p and 280p the weighted average 
remaining contractual life is 812 years 2007592 years the weighted average fair value of the options outstanding at the end of the year 
was 6524p 2007 4627p the group recorded total expenses of £192000 2007 162000
    2008 weighted 2007 weighted
    no of average no of average
    share exercise price share exercise price
    options p options p
outstanding at beginning of year    1497902 15283 1085160 4740
granted during the year    514349 32008 651393 28000
forfeited during the year    260287 23319 79851 28000
exercised during the year    441815 5737 158800 3000
outstanding at the end of the year    1310149 21932 1497902 15283
exercisable at end of year    302640 4307 657960 4655 abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
49
25 sharebased payments continued
enterprise management incentive scheme
    2008 weighted 2007 weighted
    no of average no of average
    share exercise price share exercise price
    options p options p
outstanding at beginning of year    966191 13151 768480 3920
granted during the year    284851 31200 352240 28140
forfeited during the year    90177 16141 37089 28000
exercised during the year    327337 5380 117440 3180
outstanding at the end of the year    833528 20694 966191 13151
exercisable at end of year    262640 4011 547040 4366
the growth in the net assets of the group means that the group will shortly exceed the limits set by the inland revenue for the tax 
incentives available under the enterprise management incentive scheme
unapproved share option scheme
    2008 weighted 2007 weighted
    no of average no of average
    share exercise price share exercise price
    options p options p
outstanding at beginning of year    427504 19471 261360 8260
granted during the year    148338 34030 168246 29270
forfeited during the year    137375 28834 742 28000
exercised during the year    83558 7176 1360 6250
outstanding at the end of the year    354909 22366 427504 19471
exercisable at end of year    40000 6250 80000 6250
abcam inc share scheme
    2008 weighted 2007 weighted
    no of average no of average
    share exercise price share exercise price
    options p options p
outstanding at beginning of year    104207 18556 55320 6250
granted during the year    81160 31200 90907 28000
forfeited during the year    32735 31200 42020 24874
exercised during the year    30920 5633  –  –
outstanding at the end of the year    121712 29147 104207 18556
exercisable at end of year     –  – 30920 6250 abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
50
notes to the consolidated 
financial statements 
continued
for the year ended 30 june 2008
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25 sharebased payments continued
during the year the company issued 1p ordinary shares as follows
      exercise  total
     number price paid
date issued     of shares p £
october 2007     760 100 76
october 2007     20640 250 5160
october 2007     32000 375 12000
october 2007     235080 625 146933
november 2007     61800 250 15450
november 2007     20000 300 6000
december 2007     7200 250 1800
december 2007     2120 625 1325
february 2008     14495 2800 40586
march 2008     10000 250 2500
march 2008     3640 563 2049
march 2008     4040 625 2525
april 2008     9160 563 5157
april 2008     2760 625 1725
may 2008     18120 563 10202
may 2008     1582 2240 3544
     443397  257032
issued under saye scheme
fair value calculation
the fair value of the option schemes other than those options with market based performance criteria has been calculated using the 
trinomial method the inputs into the trinomial model are as follows
emi scheme
grant date  16603 16603 5704 171204 27505 5905
share price at grantpence  10 10 25 30 625 625
fair value at valuation datepence  26 26 85 123 192 191
exercise pricepence  25 375 25 25 625 625
expected volatility  40 40 35 35 30 30
expected lifeyears  3 308 2 288 2 2
expected dividend yield  11 11 11 11 11 11
risk free rate  397 397 508 449 431 415
employee exercise multiple  2 2 2 2 2 2
employee exit rate  1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000
unapproved scheme
grant date   201204 201204 30905 30905 271005
share price at grantpence   30 30 625 625 167
fair value at valuation datepence   112 116 189 102 5577
exercise pricepence   25 25 625 125 150
expected volatility   35 35 30 30 30
expected lifeyears   154 2 182 182 1635
expected dividend yield   11 11 11 11 11
risk free rate   446 446 429 429 440
employee exercise multiple   2 2 2 2 2
employee exit rate   1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
51
25 sharebased payments continued
the fair value of options issued after september 2006 with market based performance criteria are calculated using the monte carlo model 
the inputs into the monte carlo model are as follows
grant date     7906 81107 7508
share price at grantpence     280 312 413
fair value at valuation datepence     84 059 123
exercise pricepence     280 312 413
expected volatility     30 30 30
expected lifeyears     3 301 3
expected dividend yield     11 15 15
risk free rate     457 480 479
employee exercise multiple     2 2 2
employee exit rate     953 1200 1200
26 financial instruments
capital risk management
the group manages its capital to ensure that entities in the group will be able to continue as going concerns whilst maximising the return to 
stakeholders through the optimisation of the debt and equity balance the capital structure of the group consists of cash and cash 
equivalents and equity attributable to the equity holders of the parent comprising issued capital reserves and retained earnings as 
disclosed in the consolidated statement of changes in equity
significant accounting policies
details of the significant accounting policies and methods adopted including the criteria for recognition the basis of measurement and the 
basis on which income and expenses are recognised in respect of each class of financial asset financial liability and equity instrument are 
disclosed in relevant note to the financial statements
categories of financial instruments
all financial instruments are held for trading
      
 group carrying value  company carrying value 
 
    30608 30607 30608 30607
    £000 £000 £000 £000
financial assets
loans and receivables
amounts owed by group undertakings     –  – 2033 1461
trade receivables    3697 3315 2057 1708
vat recoverable included in other debtors   234 440 234 440
    3931 3755 4324 3609
cash and cash equivalents
deposits held to maturity    12587 8500 11520 8500
cash and cash equivalents    1906 2209 1418 1555
    14493 10709 12938 10055
financial liabilities
other financial liabilities at amortised cost
amounts owed by group undertakings     –  – 93  –
trade payables    1994 1719 1784 1324
corporation tax payable    382 248 269 564
other taxes and social security    160 124 160 124
accruals    2014 1277 1680 1170
deferred creditor shown under noncurrent liabilities   109 386 109 386
    4659 3754 4095 3568
the directors consider there to be no material difference between the book value and the fair value of the group’s financial assets and 
liabilities this is because most of the financial assets and liabilities are short term abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
52
notes to the consolidated 
financial statements 
continued
for the year ended 30 june 2008
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26 financial instruments continued
risk in relation to the use of financial instruments
credit risk
credit risk refers to the risk that a counterparty will default on its contractual obligations resulting in financial loss to the group or the 
company trade receivables consist of a large number of customers spread across diverse geographical areas the group does not have 
any significant credit risk exposure to any single counterparty ongoing credit evaluation is performed on the financial condition of accounts 
receivable and consideration is given as to whether there is any impairment in the value of any amounts owing
the standard payment terms for receivables other than intragroup balances are 30 days any variation in these terms requires authorisation 
by senior management year end debtor days are 344 2007 443 all overdue debts are provided for where collectability is considered 
doubtful or the value of the debt is impaired objective evidence of impairment could include the group’s past experience of collecting 
payments an increase in the number of delayed payments in the portfolio past the average credit period of 344 days as well as 
observable changes in international or local economic conditions
the standard payment terms for intragroup receivables is 45 days there is not considered to be any risk of impairment of these receivables 
unless the financial assets of the entity holding the corresponding liability are impaired
the credit risk on liquid funds and derivative financial instruments is limited because the counterparties are banks with high creditratings 
assigned by international creditrating agencies funds are split between at least two institutions
market risk
the group’s activities expose it primarily to the financial risks of changes in foreign currency exchange rates and interest rates the group 
enters into forward exchange contracts to hedge the exchange rate risk arising on the sales of goods and services denominated in dollars 
and euros
foreign currency risk management
the group undertakes certain transactions denominated in foreign currencies the group’s policy is to maintain natural hedges where 
possible by matching foreign currency revenue and expenditure exchange rate exposures are managed within approved policy 
parameters utilising forward exchange contracts
the carrying amounts of the group’s foreign currency denominated monetary assets and liabilities at the reporting date are as follows
      
 liabilities  assets 
 
    30608 30607 30608 30607
    £000 £000 £000 £000
euros    79 79 1655 1183
dollars    821 752 3886 1511
yen    17 32 539 455
    917 863 6080 3149
foreign currency sensitivity analysis
the group’s principal functional currency is pound sterling the group is mainly exposed to us dollars and euros but has an increasing 
exposure to japanese yen the following table details the group’s sensitivity to an 8 increase and decrease in sterling against the 
relevant foreign currencies 8 is considered by management to be a reasonably possible change in foreign exchange rates after giving 
consideration to changes in exchange rates over the last 12 months 
the sensitivity analysis includes only outstanding foreign currency denominated financial assets and liabilities and the cash flow hedging 
reserve and adjusts their translation at the period end for an 8 change in foreign exchange rates the analysis below shows the increase 
or decrease in profit and the change in equity when the sterling weakens or strengthens 8 against the relevant currency abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
53
26 financial instruments continued
 euro currency impact  dollar currency impact
    2008 2007 2008 2007
    £000 £000 £000 £000
impact of 8 strengthening
– foreign currency financial assets and liabilities   117 82 227 56
– cash flow hedging reserve     – 316   – 176 
impact of 8 weakening
– foreign currency financial assets and liabilities   137  96  266  66 
– cash flow hedging reserve     – 396  – 562
the group’s sensitivity to foreign currency has increased during the period due to increased sales levels this increase has been 
proportionately more than the increase in us dollar purchases in management’s opinion the sensitivity analysis is representative of the 
inherent foreign exchange risk at year end the group’s policy is to maintain natural hedges where possible by matching us dollar 
revenue with us dollar expenditure
forward exchange contracts
it is the policy of the group to enter into forward exchange contracts to manage the risk associated with anticipated sales transactions 
within 30 to 80 of the exposure generated
the group uses a rolling hedging strategy with contracts with terms up to 12 months upon maturity of a forward contract the group may 
enter in to a new contract designated as a separate hedging relationship
foreign currency forward contracts are measured using quoted forward exchange rates matching maturities of the contracts
outstanding contracts
     foreign  contract fair
    average currency value value
    rate 30608 30608 30608
    30608 000’s 000’s 000’s
sell us dollars
less than 3 months    197 1200 £608 £3
3 to 6 months    196 2400 £1222 £2
7 to 12 months    194 600 £309 £2
    196 4200 £2139 £7
sell euros
less than 3 months    133 €1700 £1278 £70
3 to 6 months    134 €2800 £2088 £133
7 to 12 months     –  –  –  –
    134 €4500 £3366 £203
total of outstanding forward contracts      £5505 £196
     foreign  contract fair
    average currency value value
    rate 30607 30607 30607
    30607 000’s 000’s 000’s
sell us dollars
less than 3 months    192 1200 £624 £25
3 to 6 months    192 2250 £1171 £46
7 to 12 months    176 3950 £2245 £85
    183 7400 £4040 £156
sell euros
less than 3 months    148 €400 £268  –
3 to 6 months    147 €3950 £2685 £4
7 to 12 months    146 €2100 £1441 £8
    147 €6450 £4394 £12
total of outstanding forward contracts      £8434 £168 abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
54
notes to the consolidated 
financial statements 
continued
for the year ended 30 june 2008
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26 financial instruments continued
the analysis below shows the increase or decrease in profit and the change in equity when the sterling weakens or strengthens 8 against 
the relevant currency
      300608 300607
      £000 £000
fair value of outstanding contracts should sterling strengthen by 8
us dollars      154  176
euros      440  316
      594  492
      300608 300607
      £000 £000
fair value of outstanding contracts should sterling weaken by 8
us dollars      196 562
euros      72 396
      268 958
at 30 june 2007 all of the contracts were held as cash flow hedges at 30 june 2008 none of the contracts were held as cash flow hedges
liquidity risk management
ultimate responsibility for liquidity risk management rests with the board of directors which has built an appropriate liquidity risk 
management framework for the management of the group’s short medium and longterm funding and liquidity management requirements 
the group manages liquidity risk by maintaining adequate reserves and banking facilities by continuously monitoring cash flows and 
matching the maturity profiles of financial assets and liabilities
the group and company hold cash deposits at call or with a maturity of up to 12 months at 30 june 2008 the average maturity of 
balances was 35 days of fixed rate deposits not sensitive to changes in interest rates
all funds are readily available to the company to meet operational requirements
the amount owing from subsidiaries is payable on demand and is classified as being payable within 1 month trade payables are normally 
payable within 30 days of invoice abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
55
26 financial instruments continued
liquidity and interest risk tables – financial liabilities
all balances are capital and do not include accrued interest
   weighted
   average
   interest on demand 1 to 3 3 months
   rate 1 month months to 1 year total
    £000 £000 £000 £000
group
2008
trade payables    – 1110 603 4 1717
accruals    – 1561  – 474 2035
    2671 603 478 3752
company
2008
trade payables    – 1610 25  – 1635
accruals    – 1284  – 418 1702
    2894 25 418 3337
   weighted
   average
   interest on demand 1 to 3 3 months
   rate 1 month months to 1 year total
    £000 £000 £000 £000
group
2007
trade payables    – 1184 225  – 1409
accruals    – 988  – 262 1250
    2172 225 262 2659
company
2007
trade payables    – 1194 217  – 1411
accruals    – 848  – 235 1083
    2042 217 235 2494
interest rate risk sensitivity analysis
an increase of 1 in the average interest rate during the year would have resulted in an increase in interest received by the group of 
£113000 2007 £111000 and by the company of £103000 2007 £111000
a decrease of 1 in the average interest rate during the year would have resulted in an equal and opposite impact on interest received by 
the group and the company as described above
fair value of financial instruments
the fair values of the financial assets and liabilities are determined as follows
foreign exchange contracts are measured using quoted forward exchange rates and the yield curves derived from quoted interest rates 
matching maturities of these contracts
the directors consider there to be no material difference between the book value and the fair value of the group’s financial assets and 
liabilities at the balance sheet date this is because most of the financial assets and liabilities are short term abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
56
notes to the consolidated 
financial statements 
continued
for the year ended 30 june 2008
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27 related party transactions
under a new product development agreement with a laboratory associated with tony kouzarides a nonexecutive director of the 
company abcam provided products from its catalogue free of charge with a resale value of £16714 2007 £14000 and paid £36148 in 
royalties 2007 £23000 £6632 of these royalties were outstanding at year end 2007 £7000
      
eddie powell who retired as finance director on 20 november 2007 was subsequently employed as an independent contractor for which 
he was paid £15322
remuneration of key personnel
the remuneration of the directors who are the key management personnel of the group is set out below in aggregate for each of the 
categories specified in ias 24 “related party disclosures”
group and company
      30608 30607
      £000 £000
short term employee benefits and fees      1221 843
sharebased payment      50 29
      1271 872
28 notes to the cash flow statement
group
      30608 30607
      £000 £000
operating profit for the year      7371 5038
adjustments for
depreciation of property plant and equipment     1092 561
impairment losses on intangible assets      642  –
amortisation of intangible assets      309 234
share based compensation charge      232  163
operating cash flows before movements in working capital     9646 5996
increase in inventories      1405 744
increase in receivables      533 1566
increase in payables      772  1045
decrease in derivative financial instruments     365   –
decreaseincrease in hedging reserve      168 168
cash generated by operations      8677 4899
income taxes paid      1535 1473
net cash from operating activities      7142 3426
company
      30608 30607
      £000 £000
operating profit for the year      6113 4343
adjustments for
depreciation of property plant and equipment     917 439
impairment losses on intangible assets      642  –
amortisation of intangible assets      306 234
share based compensation charge      192  163
operating cash flows before movements in working capital     8170 5179
increase in inventories      1412 741
increase in receivables      572 1896
increase in payables      503  1031
decrease in derivative financial instruments     365   –
decreaseincrease in hedging reserve      168 168
cash generated by operations      6886 3741
income taxes paid      1028 1005
net cash from operating activities      5858 2736 abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
57
29 reconciliation of movements in equity
group
    sharebased
 share share translation compensation hedging deferred tax retained
 capital premium reserve
1
 reserve
2
 reserve
3
 reserve
4
 earnings total
 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000
balance as at  
 1 july 2006 345  10573  8 89   – 286  4190  15475 
exchange  
 differences  
 on translating  
 foreign operations  –  – 28  –  –  –  – 28
sharebased  
 compensation  –  –  – 162   –  –  – 162 
deferred tax on  
 outstanding  
 share options  –  –  –  –  – 30  – 30
profit for the year  –  –  –  –  –  – 4061  4061 
total income and  
 expense for the year  –  – 28 162   – 30 4061  4165 
issue of share capital 1  46   –  –  –  –  – 47 
movement on  
 hedging reserve  
 for the adoption  
 of hedge accounting  –  –  –  – 168   –  – 168 
payment of  
 dividends note 12  –  –  –  –  –  – 968 968
balance as at  
 30 june 2007 346  10619  36 251  168  256  7283  18887 
        
exchange  
 differences  
 on translating  
 foreign operations  –  – 3   –  –  –  – 3 
sharebased  
 compensation  –  –  – 232   –  –  – 232 
deferred tax on  
 outstanding  
 share options  –  –  –  –  – 502   – 502 
profit for the year  –  –  –  –  –  – 5890  5890 
total income and  
 expense for the year  –  – 3  232   – 502  5890  6627 
issue of share capital 5  252   –  –  –  –  – 257 
utilisation of  
 derivative instruments  –  –  –  – 168  –  – 168
payment of  
 dividends note 12  –  –  –  –  –  – 1481 1481
balance as at  
 30 june 2008 351  10871  33 483   – 758  11692  24122 
1 exchange differences on translation of overseas operations
2 ifrs 2 charge for fair value of share options
3 gains and losses recognised on cash flow hedges
4 portion of deferred tax asset arising on outstanding share options and share options exercised and not taken to profit and loss in accordance with ias12 abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
58
notes to the consolidated 
financial statements 
continued
for the year ended 30 june 2008
job	 11373	abcam		backaw	 proof	 05	 proof read by
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29 reconciliation of movements in equity continued
company
   sharebased
 share share compensation hedging deferred tax retained
 capital premium reserve
1
 reserve
2
 reserve
3
 earnings total
 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000
balance as at 1 july 2006 345  10573  89   – 286  3663  14956 
sharebased compensation  –  – 162   –  –  – 162 
deferred tax on outstanding  
 share options  –  –  –  – 30  – 30
profit for the year  –  –  –  –  – 3687  3687 
total income and expense for the year  –  – 162   – 30 3687  3819 
issue of share capital 1  46   –  –  –  – 47 
movement on hedging reserve for  
 the adoption of hedge accounting  –  –  – 168   –  – 168 
payment of dividends note 12  –  –  –  –  – 968 968
receipt of dividends  –  –  –  –  – 272  272 
balance as at 30 june 2007 346  10619  251  168  256  6654  18294 
sharebased compensation  –  – 193   –  –  – 193 
deferred tax on outstanding share  
 options  –  –  –  – 502   – 502 
profit for the year  –  –  –  –  – 5126  5126 
total income and expense for the year  –  – 193   – 502  5126  5821 
issue of share capital 5  252   –  –  –  – 257 
utilistation of derivative instruments  –  –  – 168  –  – 168
payment of dividends note 12  –  –  –  –  – 1481 1481
receipt of dividends  –  –  –  –  – 403  403 
balance as at 30 june 2008 351  10871  444   – 758  10702  23126 
1 ifrs 2 charge for fair value of share options
2 gains and losses recognised on cash flow hedges
3 portion of deferred tax asset arising on outstanding share options and share options exercised and not taken to profit and loss in accordance with ias12
30 explanation of the transition to ifrs
this is the first year that the company has presented its financial statements under ifrs the following disclosures are required in the year 
of transition the last financial statements under uk gaap were for the year ended 30 june 2007 and the date of transition to ifrs was 
therefore 1 july 2006
the principal impact of ifrs on these financial statements has been in relation to the following
a the scope of ias 32 and ias 39 financial instruments presentation and financial instruments recognition and 
measurement respectively
ias 32 and ias 39 require the company to recognise derivative financial instruments at their fair value on the balance sheet under uk 
gaap these were off balance sheet items there may also be a corresponding hedging reserve within equity on the balance sheet if 
hedge accounting is applied 
the group designates foreign exchange contracts as cash flow hedges and has implemented hedge accounting
b the scope of ias 12 income taxes
under ias 12 a deferred tax asset arises on the unexercised share options issued to employees under uk gaap the tax charge is only 
recognised in the income statement when the tax becomes payable abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
59
30 explanation of the transition to ifrs continued
reconciliation of income statement for the year ended 30 june 2007
group
      ifrs 
     uk gaap adjustment ifrs
    notes £000 £000 £000
revenue     24519   – 24519 
cost of sales     10020  – 10020
gross profit     14499   – 14499 
administration and management expenses    
 excluding share based compensation charge    a 7422 168 7590
share based compensation charge     142  142
total management and administration expenses    7564 168 7732
research and development expenses     
 excluding share based compensation charge    1709 –  1709  
share based compensation charge     20 –  20
total research and development expenses     1729  – 1729
operating profit     5206  168 5038 
investment revenue     495   – 495 
profit before taxation      5701  168 5533 
tax     b 1554 82  1472
profit for the period from continuing operations    4147  86 4061 
reconciliation of equity as at 1 july 2006 and 30 june 2007
     notes 1706 30607
total equity under uk gaap      15067 18427
lossgains arising on derivatives in a designated cash flow hedge   a 118 204 
lossgains arising on deferred tax on outstanding options    b 290 256 
total equity under ifrs      15475 18887 abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
60
notes to the consolidated 
financial statements 
continued
for the year ended 30 june 2008
job	 11373	abcam		backaw	 proof	 05	 proof read by
operator	tim	 date	 23092008	
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30 explanation of the transition to ifrs continued
reconciliation of balance sheet presentation at 1 july 2006
group
      ifrs 
     uk gaap adjustment ifrs
    notes £000 £000 £000
noncurrent assets
intangible assets     77   – 77 
property plant and equipment     1094   – 1094 
     1171   – 1171 
current assets
inventories     2358   – 2358 
trade and other receivables     2762   – 2762 
cash and cash equivalents      11884   – 11884 
derivative financial instruments    a  – 169  169 
     17004  169  17173 
current liabilities
trade and other payables     2461  – 2461
current tax liabilities    a 562 51 613
     3023 51 3074
net current assets     13981  118  14099 
total assets less current liabilities     15152  118  15270 
noncurrent liabilities
deferred tax liabilities    b 85 290  205 
net assets     15067  408  15475 
equity
share capital     345   – 345 
share premium account     10573   – 10573 
translation reserve     89   – 89 
share based compensation reserve     8  – 8
retained earnings    ab 4068  408  4476 
total equity     15067  408  15475  abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
61
30 explanation of the transition to ifrs continued
reconciliation of balance sheet presentation at 1 july 2006
company
      ifrs 
     uk gaap adjustment ifrs
    notes £000 £000 £000
noncurrent assets
intangible assets     77   – 77 
property plant and equipment     901   – 901 
investments     16   16 
     994   – 994 
current assets
inventories     2348   – 2348 
trade and other receivables     2676   – 2676 
cash and cash equivalents      11312   11312 
derivative financial instruments    a  – 169  169 
     16336  169  16505 
current liabilities
trade and other payables     2294  – 2294
current tax liabilities    a 411 51 462
     2705 51 2756
net current assets     13631  118  13749 
total assets less current liabilities     14625  118  14743 
noncurrent liabilities
deferred tax liabilities    b 77 290  213 
net assets     14548  408  14956 
equity
share capital     345   – 345 
share premium account     10573   – 10573 
share based compensation reserve     89   – 89 
retained earnings    ab 3541  408  3949 
total equity     14548  408  14956  abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
62
notes to the consolidated 
financial statements 
continued
for the year ended 30 june 2008
job	 11373	abcam		backaw	 proof	 05	 proof read by
operator	tim	 date	 23092008	
server	 studio	i	 setup	 tim	 first	readrevisions
30 explanation of the transition to ifrs continued
reconciliation of balance sheet presentation at 30 june 2007
group
      ifrs 
     uk gaap adjustment ifrs
    notes £000 £000 £000
noncurrent assets
intangible assets     1691   – 1691 
property plant and equipment     2832   – 2832 
     4523   – 4523 
current assets
inventories     3102   – 3102 
trade and other receivables     4327   – 4327 
cash and cash equivalents     a 10709   10709 
derivative financial instruments      – 168  168 
     18138  168  18306 
current liabilities
trade and other payables     3404 36  3368
     3404 36  3368
net current assets     14734  204  14938 
total assets less current liabilities     19257  204  19461 
noncurrent liabilities
deferred creditor     386  – 386
deferred tax liabilities    b 444 256  188
net assets     18427  460  18887 
equity
share capital     346   – 346 
share premium account     10619   – 10619 
translation reserve     36  – 36
share based compensation reserve     251   – 251 
deferred tax reserve    b  – 256  256 
hedging reserve    a  – 168  168 
retained earnings    a 7247  36  7283 
total equity     18427  460  18887  abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
63
30 explanation of the transition to ifrs continued
reconciliation of balance sheet presentation at 30 june 2007
company
      ifrs 
     uk gaap adjustment ifrs
    notes £000 £000 £000
noncurrent assets
intangible assets     1691   – 1691 
property plant and equipment     2459   – 2459 
investments     16   – 16 
     4166   – 4166 
current assets
inventories     3089   – 3089 
trade and other receivables     4572   – 4572 
cash and cash equivalents      10055   – 10055 
derivative financial instruments    a  168  168 
     17716  168  17884 
current liabilities
trade and other payables     2939  – 2939
current tax liabilities    a 279 36  243
     3218 36  3182
net current assets     14498  204  14702 
total assets less current liabilities     18664  204  18868 
noncurrent liabilities
deferred creditor     188  – 188
deferred tax liabilities    b 642 256  386
net assets     17834  460  18294 
equity
share capital     346   – 346 
share premium account     10619   – 10619 
share based compensation reserve     251   – 251 
deferred tax reserve    b  – 256  256 
hedging reserve    a  – 168  168 
retained earnings    a 6618  36  6654 
total equity     17834  460  18294 
explanation of material adjustments to the cash flow statement for 2007
cash held on short term deposits is included in cash and cash equivalents under ifrs under previous gaap these amounts were 
excluded from the cash flow statement there are no other material differences between the cash flow statement presented under ifrs and 
the cash flow statement presented under previous gaap abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
64
notes 01 highlights
02 our business at a glance
04 our internet platform
06 chairman’s review
08 chief executive  
officer’s review
10 managing director’s review
12 financial review
14 board of directors
16 corporate directory
17 directors’ report
19 corporate governance
21 directors’ remuneration 
report
24 statement of directors’ 
responsibilities
25 independent auditors’ 
report
26 consolidated income  
statement
27 consolidated statement of 
recognised income and 
expense
28 consolidated balance sheet
29 company balance sheet
30 consolidated cash flow 
statement
31 company cash flow  
statement
32 notes to the consolidated 
financial statements
our vision is to build the largest 
online antibody resource in the 
world while also ensuring that 
the antibodies are of excellent 
quality and commercial viability
welcome
my name is molly i’m the resident abcam mascot and 
appear on all our packaging and branded materials
a lot of researchers ask where we got the idea for molly  
the sheep it was simply because dolly the sheep was  
making headline news at the time so we created the  
body out of a molecular space fill model and gave her  
antibody legs and thus the molecular dolly became  
abcam’s molly annual report  
and accounts 2008
annual report and accounts 2008
332 cambridge science park
cambridge
cb4 0wn
uk
email ordersabcamcom
phone 44 01223 696000
fax 44 01223 696001


Summary:
 abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
6
job	 11373	abcam		frontaw	 proof	 05	 proof read by
operator	tim	 date	 23092008	
server	 studio	i	 setup	 tim	 first	readrevisions
chairman’s
review
abcam has recently celebrated its tenth 
anniversary and i am delighted to report on 
another outstanding year as the group 
continues to go from strength to strength 
demand for research antibodies 
has never been higher nor has 
our reputation our highly 
developed ecommerce 
platform offering targeted 
information and easy access  
to products has become the 
destination of choice for 
increasing numbers of 
researchers across the world 
our intention is to consistently 
deliver robust growth whilst at 
the same time investing in the 
future of the business thus 
ensuring that we have a solid 
and sustainable foundation for 
longterm development this 
has been achieved this year 
and the business is well set for 
continued success
we have achieved strong 
growth in all the regions in 
which we operate sales in the 
year increased by 497 to 
£367m 49  on a constant 
currency basis whilst gross 
margins increased from 59  
to 608 this outstanding 
performance is a testimony  
to the quality of the products 
and support we offer the 
scalability of our operation and 
abcam’s growing reputation as 
a quality supplier to the world 
scientific community 
a key driver of our success is 
our wealth of product data this 
set of data is a tremendous 
asset and includes technical 
information application specific 
information usergenerated 
reviews and how our products 
have been used in published 
experiments using this 
relevant easily accessible 
information research scientists 
can identify and purchase the 
products best suited for their 
requirements during the year 
our catalogue increased by 
more than  0000 products 
from 33900 at the end of the 
last financial year to over 
44000 at the end of june 2008 
sales of individual products 
tend to increase the longer they 
are listed and as more data is 
gathered new products 
contributed £32m to sales in 
the year and we expect sales 
from these new launches to 
increase in future years 
our investments in the year 
included the continued 
development of the high
throughput production htp 
facility the htp facility has 
taken on the production of new 
and existing polyclonal 
antibodies and been very 
successful in adding 
characterisation data which is 
an important driver of growth 
to our existing catalogue a 
priority for this year has been 
increasing production 
efficiencies and managing 
costs we have also continued 
development work on our 
automated monoclonal 
development programme the 
initial level of sales of the 
monoclonal antibodies added 
to the catalogue during the year 
has been well ahead of 
david cleevely
chairman
 abcam plc
annual report and accounts 
30 june 2008
7
expectations and we will 
continue to prudently manage 
monoclonal production levels in 
line with the development of our 
production process 
our offices in the usa and 
japan have both grown 
significantly in the year and our 
commitment to optimising the 
user experience has driven 
further investment in our 
website infrastructure and the 
establishment of a dedicated  
ecommerce team we are also 
continuing to build our 
distributor network in order to 
improve our geographic reach 
in parts of the world where an 
ecommerce model has yet to 
be fully embraced 
we have continued to attract 
staff of the highest calibre to 
ensure that our growth is 
targeted and well managed a 
high proportion of our staff have 
phds and we aim to blend a 
depth of technical knowledge 
with strong commercial 
acumen in november 2007 we 
appointed jeff iliffe as chief 
financial officer and with the 
extremely valuable 
contributions from the non
executive directors we have a 
strong and effective board
our aim is to continue 
delivering value to both our 
customers and our 
shareholders and i would like to 
thank them for their continued 
support i would also like to 
extend thanks to our growing 
number of suppliers and finally 
to our dedicated and talented 
staff who make these 
achievements possible 
dividends
the board’s policy is to 
distribute 33 of profit after tax 
as dividends this was 
increased from 25 last year in 
line with the strong cashflow 
and growing success of the 
group an interim dividend of 
 04p per share was paid in 
april 2008 and the directors 
are therefore recommending a 
final dividend of 456p per 
share making a total for the 
year of 560p subject to 
shareholder approval at the 
annual general meeting in 
november this dividend will be 
paid on 28 november 2008 to 
shareholders on the register on 
7 november 2008
outlook
our track record demonstrates 
the strength of the combination 
of our highly developed  
ecommerce platform wealth  
of product data extensive 
range of antibodies and high
calibre staff we have built an 
attractive position in an exciting 
market and the board looks to 
the future with confidence
david cleevely freng
chairman
8 september 2008