abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
abcam plc 
annual report and accounts 2014      16 years’ experience
      133000 highly validated products
     detailed honest data
enabling scientists 
to discover more
we aspire to be the most recommended 
brand by protein researchers
abcam makes sources and sells protein 
research tools and services for s tudying 
proteins at a cellular level 01
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
overview
 02 chairman’s introduction
 04 our business at a glance
strategic report
 07 ceo’s introduction
 09 our business model
 12 marketplace and trends
 18 our strategy
 24  risks and risk management
 29  key performance indicators
 30  financial r eview
 33  corporate social responsibility
corporate governance
 37 chairman’s introduction to governance
 38 board of directors
 40 senior leadership team
 42 regional managers
 43  corporate governance statement
 46 audit committee
 49 nomination committee
 51  remuneration r eport
 69 directors’ report
 71  statement of directors’ responsibilities
financial statements
 73 independent auditor’s report
 77  consolidated income statement
 78  consolidated statement 
of comprehensive income 
 78  reconciliation of adjusted 
financial measures
 79 balance sheets
 80  consolidated statement of  
changes in equity
 81  company statement of changes  
in equity
 82  cash flow statements
 83  notes to the financial statements
ibc corporate directory
  shareholder information
our portfolio of research tools provides methods  
of detecting quantifying and modifying proteins  
to understand their roles in biology our products 
enable scientific research – ultimately leading to 
treatments for human diseases such as cancer
our business was founded 16 years ago by scientists for scientists the concept 
was a simple one make life science research tools available to the world via the 
internet generate quality datasheets to support them give researchers a voice 
to feedback how they work and share all this data with the rest of the research 
community as a result we are now able to provide a range of highly validated 
products with strong technical and logistical support our success means that 
over half a million researchers make abcam their first choice for highquality 
life science research tools
it is our mission to provide the best products and services to enable scientists to 
discover more and we will continue to improve the way we support the scientific 
community on their journey of discovery so we can achieve our vision to be the 
brand most recommended by life science researchers 02
abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
chairman’s introduction
it has been an exciting year as we have been 
diligently building around the organic growth 
strategy that we outlined in september 2013 
as part of these activities we have made 
investments across the business particularly in 
people processes and product development 
significant progress has been made and we 
are pleased to see the effect of these growth 
initiatives beginning to come through 
our push into eastern markets has continued 
in the year with the opening of our new office in 
shanghai china in february 2014 having a 
local presence dramatically improves our delivery 
lead times enhances consumer experience and 
presents a number of strategic opportunities 
which include the building of direct relationships 
with major companies in the region
elsewhere in western territories the 
environment for governmentfunded research 
is more challenging driven by large fiscal 
deficits that said however we are beginning 
to see signs of stability in the us as modest 
funding increases are approved 
new product additions for the year were 
11521 taking the total catalogue to over 
133000 products the level of additions is 
below that in recent years as we increasingly 
focus on inhouse development to highvalue 
targets during the year we launched 1733 
new rabmab
®
 products making us the 
largest provider of rabbit monoclonal 
antibodies globally
dividends
the strong balance sheet and cash generation 
capability of the group has allowed us to sustain 
the progressive improvement in dividends 
this year the board is proposing a final dividend 
of 562 pence per share which when added 
to the interim dividend of 213 pence represents 
an increase of 101 for the year as a whole 
subject to shareholder approval the final 
dividend will be paid on 28 november 2014 
to shareholders on the register on 
7 november 2014
board changes
there have been a number of board changes 
since the start of the 201314 financial year 
which have been made to support the 
business in its next phase of growth or in 
compliance with best governance practice
some of these changes have been announced 
today and others over the year 
they are as follows
  alan hirzel has been appointed as ceo 
with immediate effect having joined the 
board earlier in the year
  at the same time jonathan milner 
moves from ceo to a newly created 
deputy chairman position and will have 
an active role in the continued development 
of the company
  louise patten joined the board earlier in the 
year and is chairman of the remuneration 
committee she will assume the senior 
independent director role following the 
agm in november
  after nine years peter keen will not 
be seeking reelection to the board at 
the annual general meeting agm in 
november in line with best practice for 
independent nonexecutive directors and
  as announced earlier in the year i 
michael redmond will be stepping 
down from the board at the agm 
and one of our nonexecutive directors 
murray hennessy will be taking over 
as chairman of the board
alan hirzel’s appointment as ceo 
was announced today he succeeds 
jonathan milner abcam’s longserving 
chief executive and cofounder
jonathan’s exceptional vision and ambition 
inspired the creation of abcam in 1998 
he and the board are delighted to confirm 
a successor to lead the business to its next 
phase of growth alan brings an impressive 
combination of a strong scientific background 
global business and leadership experience 
and consumer knowledge jonathan and 
alan have been working closely together on 
abcam’s strategic vision over the last year 
alan will take over leadership of the company 
effective immediately whilst jonathan will 
continue to use his tremendous industry 
experience and network of contacts to help 
identify important technology changes 
relevant to our business and partnership 
and acquisition targets to support our 
growth strategy
alan was appointed to the board in 
january 2014 having joined the company 
in august 2013 as chief marketing officer 
with responsibility for the company’s branding 
product portfolio and online consumer offering 
he has played a major role in the planning 
and implementation of our growth strategies 
and has led their execution
in march 2014 louise patten joined the 
board bringing extensive experience which 
is highly relevant to abcam at this stage in the 
company’s development she has served on 
the boards of substantial quoted companies 
for more than 20 years as a nonexecutive 
director senior independent director and 
remuneration committee and company 
chairman louise will be taking on the 
senior independent director role following 
the agm in november
i am delighted to welcome both alan 
and louise to the board and am confident 
they are already playing a significant role 
in abcam’s ongoing development
peter keen joined the board in 2005 prior 
to the company’s flotation on aim during 
which time he has served as chairman of the 
remuneration and audit committees and 
as the senior independent director as also 
announced today in line with best practice 
peter has decided not to seek reelection at 
the next agm at which he will have served 
nine years we are most grateful for the huge 
contribution he has made to the operation 
of the board and the development of the 
business during that time
lastly as announced in june 2014 after 
five years as chairman i have decided to step 
down from the board following the agm 
to be held later this year and my fellow board 
member murray hennessy will be taking over 
the role of chairman murray has served as a 
nonexecutive director for almost three years 
and has developed a deep understanding of 
abcam he brings extensive experience 
in international customerfacing industries and 
online businesses and is the ideal candidate 
to take over and help lead abcam’s 
next phase of growth
corporate governance
over the course of the year the board 
and its committees have addressed the 
corporate governance requirements arising 
from changes to regulations we have 
expanded our strategic report making our 
business model and key strategic priorities 
more transparent and increased disclosures 
on matters affecting audit and remuneration
the composition of the board is kept under 
regular review to ensure that its members 
bring the appropriate skills required to 
improve its effectiveness and performance 
i am pleased to report that the board has 
functioned well in all respects during the year 
providing knowledgeable and robust challenge 
and support to the executive directors 
welcome to abcam’s 201314 annual report i am pleased to report further progress of the group 
during the year after stripping out the negative effect from the relative strengthening of sterling 
overall revenue growth was 86 and revenues from the sale of products sold through our catalogue 
which is the focus of our growth strategy grew by 100 allowing for currency fluctuations the 
overall reported revenue growth was 47 of which catalogue sales grew by 60 after increased 
investment in the business to support our growth adjusted profit before tax was £468m which is 
marginally higher than last year 201213 £466m 03
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
overview financial statements corporate governance strategic report
i am also confident that the changes 
described above will enable the board 
to continue to do so as abcam’s business 
continues to grow
awards 
in october 2013 we were delighted to be 
named ‘company of the year’ in the 2013 
aim awards the award is presented to the 
company that has best demonstrated it is 
a responsible fully accountable dynamic 
business with strong growth prospects 
above all the winner is deemed to be a 
wellmanaged business having attracted 
public funding to enhance and develop 
its growth potential to the full
during the year we were also proud to have 
been voted as management today’s ‘most 
admired company’ in the healthcare and 
household sector the britain’ s most admired 
companies awards are an important indicator 
of the highest performing companies in british 
business that embed excellence throughout 
their organisation
outlook 
during 201314 we have begun to see the 
benefits of our investments to drive organic 
growth and expect to see further progress in 
the coming year looking ahead our market 
intelligence indicates tentative signs that 
market conditions may be improving in the 
us and we are cautiously optimistic of 
greater certainty around the level of centrally 
funded research expenditure while we 
remain cautious about the prospects for a 
recovery to historical levels of funding growth 
the 201415 financial year has started well 
and we are optimistic that our continued 
investments in new products and capabilities 
coupled with increased geographic 
penetration will continue to drive sales
i would like to thank all the members of 
the abcam family for the progress made in 
year and look forward to repeated success 
in 201415
mike redmond
chairman
8 september 2014
highlights of our year
product revenue
100
since 201213
adjusted operating profit
1
466m
adjusted diluted earnings per share
1806p
cash and term deposits
569m
  catalogue revenue increased by 100 on a constant currency 
basis to £1180m 201213 £1113m on a reported basis the 
increase was 60
  total revenue increased by 86 on a constant currency basis 
47 on a reported basis to £1280m 201213 £1222m
  underlying gross margin grew slightly but the effect of exchange 
rates reduced reported margins to 706 2013 710
  after increased investment to drive future growth adjusted 
operating profit
1
 increased slightly to £466m 201213 £465m 
reported operating profit increased to £433m 2013 £428m
  adjusted diluted earnings per share eps
1
 increased by 28 
to 1806 pence 201213 1757 pence reported eps increased 
by 42 to 1702 pence 201213 1634 pence
  closing cash and term deposits were £569m 30 june 2013 £383m
  excellent progress in implementing our key organic growth initiatives
  dividend increased by 101 to 775 pence per share 
201213 704 pence
  opened a new office in shanghai china providing us greater 
access to local markets and improving the consumer experience
1  excluding £33m 201213 £33m of acquisitionrelated intangible amortisation costs and no oneoff 
charges 201213 £04m and in the case of eps the related tax effect
our full financial results are discussed on page 30 04
abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
global 
offices
9
product citations
new products
added during
the year
webinars 
hosted 15
11500
15000
supporting the
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overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
100
inhouse phds 
conferences
attended
worldwide 
32
supporting the
que st for discovery
employees
around the world
740 06
abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
the year ended 
30 june 2014 has been 
an exciting and busy 
time for abcam
“
“
jonathan milner
chief executive officer
strategic report
  our business model – page 9
  marketplace and trends – page 12
  our strategy – page 18
  risks and risk management – page 24
  key performance indicators – page 29
  financial review – page 30
  corporate social responsibility – page 33
in this section 07
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
the year ended 30 june 2014 has been an exciting 
and busy time for abcam
we have invested in our organic growth strategy 
and are pleased to see its impact beginning to come 
through sales growth from our catalogue products 
of 100 on a constant currency basis is above the 
growth of the wider market and demonstrates 
that consumers continue to recognise the quality 
of our products
the key to our success in the year and beyond lies 
in the continued focus and investment around our 
five strategic goals
keeping the highest standards
ceo’s introduction
successful execution of our strategy 
demands that we increasingly focus on 
listening to our consumers and ensuring 
that we use the insights gained to shape 
our business i am delighted with the 
progress that we have made on each 
of these goals during the year and the 
plans we have in place for the future
create a scalable 
organisation
sustain attractive 
economics
grow our core 
reagents business 
faster than the 
market
1
3 4
establish new 
growth platforms
selectively pursue 
partnerships and acquisitions
2 5
read our strategy in detail on page 18
how do we ensure 
high product quality
stringent quality control and validation processes are 
carried out by our laboratories in the us uk and china 
to check the activity stability and performance of our 
products whether it is antibodies kits or biochemicals 
the validation process is continuous and the data 
obtained is made available on our product datasheets 
and in our protocols where a product is sourced 
through our oem channels we work closely with 
suppliers to ensure product quality and information 
meets our high standards abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
in 2003 as we opened our first overseas office we 
wanted a way of communicating the principles that the 
business was built on as this was our cambridge ma 
office in the us we called it the ‘abcam constitution’ 
these principles remain core values within the company 
and will continue to evolve to ensure that they align with 
our culture and strategic goals
  we share all nonconfidential information 
with our consumers
  we exceed consumer expectations by fast delivery
  we offer polite efficient and helpful 
consumer service
  we are honest with all our consumers employees 
suppliers and stakeholders 
  we measure how we are doing using transparent 
dynamic reports
  we operate efficiently using dynamic  
internetbased systems
  we value ideas and problem solving from each 
and every employee
  we evaluate all new ideas products and technologies 
by asking if we can make a contribution to them 
and be best in the world if we are truly passionate 
about them and if they can make money
  we recruit talented staff with passion and 
energy and provide a flexible and supportive work 
environment to help them reach their full potential 
within a highperformance culture
adherence to these principles across our business 
has helped us to become a leading supplier of life 
science research tools globally
read more about our staff on page 33
ceo’s introduction continued
the abcam constitution overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
09
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
this philosophy shapes our  
business model discussed  
on the following pages
our business model
scientific researchers are at the core of 
our business model by understanding our 
consumer needs we are able to drive the 
direction of the business to help advance 
their research
the story above is the same for researchers all over the 
world they work in different locations and on different 
protein targets but they need the right products to help 
them achieve their goal of ‘discovering the next big 
scientific breakthrough’
it is essential that the reagents researchers use are 
of the highest quality enabling experiments that are 
conclusive consistent and repeatable
researchers need to be able to select the right product 
based on extensive data from product testing and validation 
recommendations from their peers also help make their 
choice easier
by ensuring our products meet these needs our consumers 
will become repeat purchasers and will recommend us 
to their peers
hi
i’m john a postdoctoral researcher in london 
and i’m working on breast cancer protein brca2 
i need quality reagents with honest and uptodate data 
that i can trust and that informs me about the product 
uses and limitations i need the reagent quickly and 
depending on how my experiment goes i might also 
need some technical help and support along the way 
my aim is ultimately to get my paper published in 
a highimpact journal and be a part 
of eradicating cancer abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
10
our business model continued
complaints
technical 
queries
supplier  
product testing
product  
citations
independent 
product testing
customer feedback 
including product 
reviews
inhouse  
product testing
product data 
knowledge and 
information
secondary antibodies
simplestep elisa™ 
and other kits
rabmab
®
 enabling 
technology and products
agonists and  
antagonists
proteins and peptides
primary antibodies
functional assays
our beginnings
1
adding products building knowledge 
sharing data
our flexible sourcing model enables us to grow our product 
offering in line with researchers’ needs this is achieved by 
sourcing products from oem suppliers of which we now 
have more than 400 as well as manufacturing products 
inhouse we also developed our own inhouse production 
capabilities in order to add more highquality products to 
our catalogue
we were the first company to add extensive and transparent 
product characterisation and validation data which is sourced 
by our inhouse laboratories our network of collaborators and 
independent consumer product reviews
emerging toda y
2
innovating to meet the needs 
of the scientific researcher
to keep up with the pace of scientific research we look at 
ways that we can add further dimensions to our product 
ranges and extend our expertise one of the ways in which 
we have achieved this is through the acquisition of companies 
that share our values and are leaders in innovating to meet 
the needs of the scientific research community
these acquisitions have enabled us to develop new products 
allowing us to target underserved segments in the marketplace 
our patented rabmab
®
 technology has provided opportunities 
to partner with key research organisations so we can provide 
new product innovations that will enhance researchers’ 
experiments by providing antibodies of the highest quality 
possible as a result of these acquisitions and our increased 
focus on inhouse innovation approximately 388 of group 
revenues are derived from own manufactured products 
services and licences
the wealth of data that supports our product offering builds 
trust with consumers and provides us with insight on where 
our sourcing and innovation efforts should be focused within 
protein research
product sourcing 
and manufacturing
to be the brand most recommended  
by life science rese archers
our consumercentric approach along with our wealth of product data global manufacturing capabilities 
and network of oem suppliers makes our business model robust and defensible in turn this enables us to 
build strong longlasting partnerships with the scientific community and provides the flexibility to capture 
market share in underpenetrated segments in the future this approach will move us closer to being the brand 
most recommended by life science researchers overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
11
  breadth of product data 
knowledge and information
  consumerdriven digital 
marketing and an industry 
leading ecommerce platform
  consumer insight across 
segments and markets with 
strong growth potential
  rabmab
®
 technology 
capabilities
  flexibility to source 
innovation from suppliers 
and inhouse
  organisational agility 
and culture
consumer and customer 
centricity
our future
3
consumer insight and improved 
consumer loyalty
we are increasingly moving our business model towards 
a focus on understanding what happens at each consumer 
touch point by continually enriching these interactions we 
will provide a more intelligent and targeted offering 
we will better anticipate consumers’ needs by building 
stronger links with the scientific community at conferences 
and other events providing expert technical support through 
collaborations with research leaders and through the use 
of web analytics to help us better understand purchasing 
preferences and habits we also continue to encourage 
feedback through regular consumer surveys and focus 
groups which help us update product datasheets provide 
useful technical resources and improve service levels 
our aim is to improve our listening our service and our 
responsiveness to better serve our consumers as we grow 
we will also look at opportunities to partner with scientific 
organisations and make strategic investments which align 
and enrich our business within the field of life science research
seeking solutions
our consumers search for the right 
products at the highest possible quality 
which is fundamental for their research 
into health and diseases
purchasing
at the point of purchase we ensure 
our consumers get the product they 
want quickly offering nextday 
delivery in most regions
sharing
our consumers share data with us 
which helps others in research 
make the right product choices 
getting help
our abcam guarantee promises 
guaranteed product quality plus customer 
and technical support for any pre or 
postpurchase queries in six languages
fundamental characteristics 
that drive our success 12
abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
marketpla ce and trends
the americas
the americas remains our largest geographic 
segment and is dominated by the us which 
represents over 90 of the region’s revenue 
we have made good progress there in the 
year in particular through investing in our sales 
and marketing capabilities an improved 
marketing effort around our rabmab
®
 
products has helped to increase the 
number of consumers taking advantage 
of the benefits of our rabmab
®
 technology 
there are geographic pockets of high levels 
of research activity within the us and during 
the year we have restructured our regional 
account team to ensure we have appropriate 
representation in all these key regions 
we have also seen early signs of an improved 
environment for centrally funded research 
budgets sequestration worries and budget 
indecision which were such a dominant 
feature of the 201213 financial year showed 
signs of subsiding in 201314 and the 
national institutes of health nih received 
a budget increase of 35 for its fiscal year 
to september 2014 while this does not 
entirely reverse the cuts of sequestration 
it does alleviate some of the uncertainty and 
negative sentiment at least in the short term
outside the us the changes we put 
in place to improve consumer service in 
canada continue to be well received and 
we have also seen good progress in brazil 
where the distributor change made last 
year is beginning to have a positive impact 
favourable market growth makes brazil an 
important part of our americas strategy and 
we continue to review the best way to reduce 
lead times and improve consumer service
europe middle east 
and africa emea
our largest markets within the emea region 
are uk germany and france which on a 
combined basis account for 54 of the 
region’s sales continuing the recent trend 
the uk performed very well in the year 
while france and germany performed 
satisfactorily with each growing at slightly 
below the wider emea rate
the relative performance of the countries in 
the emea region has been broadly consistent 
with the macroeconomic trends of each 
region however in some of the smaller 
southern european markets performance 
was mixed growth in italy improved slightly 
in the years albeit still below that seen 
in the wider emea region while funding 
pressures meant spain remained broadly flat 
notable strong performance was seen in 
switzerland where we saw the full year 
effects of changes made to the way in 
which products are imported
we continue to improve our levels of 
service wherever possible and have recently 
introduced a small regional account team 
to help build closer relationships with 
potential highvalue organisations
abcam’s global presence – regional sales
all figures given as a percentage 
of product revenue
japan
revenues from japan grew by 115 on a 
constant currency basis with 141 growth 
in the second half we continue to see the 
positive effect of the stimulus package that 
was announced by the government in 2013 
with the goal of investing 11bn into science 
and technology the effects of this stimulus 
are expected to carry over into the beginning 
of our 201415 financial year and it is positive 
that the government remains supportive 
of science and technology as a means 
to stimulate growth
asia pacific
china has been a big focus for us and 
featured prominently within our strategy 
to develop additional growth platforms 
we opened our new shanghai office in 
february 2014 and after a period of transition 
earlier in the year we are pleased to see the 
impact of having a greater local presence 
coming through in q4 overall growth in 
china on a constant currency basis was 
155 having the new office means that 
we have greatly improved our capacity 
and flexibility to hold inventory in mainland 
china dramatically reducing our lead times 
and improving the consumer’s experience
outside of china growth was good overall 
as strong performances in south korea 
and singapore were offset by a small 
decline in taiwan where the funding 
environment has been more difficult
the americas
43
us rest of the americas
emea
36
uk germany
rest of emea
japan
9
japan
asia pacific
12
china rest of asia pacific annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
13
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
financial statements corporate governance strategic report overview
there are many antibody products available in the market 
to detect and study programmed cell death which is 
called apoptosis there is however a growing need 
to study necroptotic cell death which is when a cell dies 
from acute injury which is most relevant to inflammatory 
and neurodegenerative disease
abcam was approached by dr xiaodong wang from the 
national institute of biological sciences to undertake 
a joint collaboration to develop antibodies that would 
recognise the role of several proteins discovered by 
his lab as playing an important role in necroptosis 
with our rabmab
®
 product development lab in hangzhou 
china we were able to work closely with dr wang to 
address his unmet needs
the collaboration led to the development of a very highquality 
antibody to detect a newly identified molecular marker of 
necroptosis by dr wang’s lab the results of the project 
were published in molecular cell in april 2014 and the 
antibody has since become one of the fastest selling 
rabmab
®
 primary antibodies on the catalogue
‘we had used rabmab
®
 primaries in our previous research 
and found that these were superior to other antibodies on 
the market in every way when we found out about abcam’s 
custom services we thought that this would be an ideal 
solution for our research needs it’s encouraging that the 
first product of our collaboration has been well received by 
the market and enabled scientists from all over the world 
to further characterise the involvement of necroptosis 
in human diseases’ said dr wang
dr xiaodong wang
national institute of biological sciences beijing
superior to 
other antibodies  
in every way
addressing unmet needs
“
“ abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
marketpla ce and trends continued
nonproduct revenue
nonproduct revenue represents revenues 
derived from sales outside of the abcam 
online catalogue and on a combined basis 
were £100m in the year 201213 £109m 
representing 78 of overall revenues in 
the year
our capability to offer custom services will 
continue to be an important component in 
our strategy for building relationships with key 
researchers enabling us to provide innovative 
products for our catalogue however as 
previously announced the size of this area of 
our business needs to be appropriate for our 
overall strategy and consequently revenue 
from custom services has declined in the year 
we have restructured our custom services 
cost base accordingly to be consistent with 
expected future levels of activity 
revenue from royalties and licences derives 
from legacy agreements which were put in 
place prior to the acquisition of epitomics 
under these agreements several life science 
companies were granted access to parts of 
the rabmab
®
 technology for the development 
of their own rabbit monoclonal antibodies 
in return for which they pay royalties and 
licence fees such agreements are not aligned 
with our strategy and therefore such revenues 
are anticipated to decline over time 
consequently revenue growth in the year 
was flat
our invitro diagnostics immunohistochemistry 
ivd ihc business performed well in the 
year albeit from a small base this area 
of our business sells antibodies developed 
using our rabmab
®
 technology to 
anatomical pathologists a handful of large 
instrumentation manufacturers dominate this 
market several of which are now customers 
our success in this marketplace is reliant 
on gaining an effective route to market 
and we are delighted to have signed a 
global strategic marketing agreement with 
cell marque after the year end discussed 
on page 23
revenue
201314
£000
revenue
201213
£000
increase
decrease 
in reported
revenue
underlying
growth
rate
the americas 51267 48711 53 92
emea 42037 38287 98 92
japan 11116 12035 76 115
asia pacific 13570 12279 105 141
product revenue 117990 111312 60 100
nonproduct revenue 9964 10894 85 56
total reported revenue
1
127954 122206 47 86
1 includes custom services ivdihc royalties and licence income
14
maintaining our leadership
what makes our 
business resilient
there are several reasons why we believe abcam’s business is 
strongly defensible
  the large amount of product data abcam has built over the last 16 years 
  our proprietary rabmab
®
 technology
  fast and efficient global logistics
  our strong relationships with over 400 suppliers 15
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
15
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
financial statements corporate governance strategic report overview
a key part of neuroscience research involves labelling 
neurons in the brain for which in the past researchers 
have only had access to a limited range of antibodies 
from another supplier
we identified the need for a more specific antibody and 
developed a superior rabmab
®
 product in six months 
which involved rigorous characterisation work coupled 
with independent third party testing the result is that 
a higher quality antibody is now available in the market 
offering many advantages over any other and making it 
much easier for researchers to undertake their experiments
the antibody has been well received by consumers
‘we were very satisfied with the result we will certainly 
use it as an alternative staining for neurons in combination 
with other antibodies’ 
dr fabio canneva
universitätsklinikum erlangen germany
acting on consumer insight
we were very 
satisfied with  
the result
“
“ abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
funding
a large percentage of abcam’s revenues 
are derived from consumers who are publicly 
funded through research grants the nature 
of the market means that it is very difficult 
to give a precise measure but it is thought to 
be somewhere around 80 of our revenues 
our remaining consumers are spread across 
the pharmaceutical biotechnology and 
invitro diagnostics markets
over the last few years the austerity 
measures in the us and european markets 
have meant that realterm government 
funding increases into life science research 
have been small or in some circumstance 
funding has actually declined during that 
time abcam’s revenues have continued to 
grow by taking market share which is 
testimony to the strength of our business 
however the global government research 
funding environment is relevant when 
considering abcam’s growth potential 
in terms of its impact on market growth
more recent data suggests tentative signs 
of improvement with the nih being granted 
a 35 increase in funding in the year to 
september 2014 despite this we retain 
our cautious outlook on the us and 
european funding environments
slower funding increases in the west 
combined with strong investment in life 
science research by china has resulted 
in a shift of spending towards the east 
it is estimated that china’ s research funding 
increased by 33 per annum between 
2007 and 2012 while the us total share 
of global research funding shrank from 
51 to just 45 over the same period
the research reagents that abcam sells 
are fundamental to the work life scientists 
across the world are performing every day 
we therefore feel that when compared 
to larger capital intensive spending our 
products are more resilient to changes 
in shortterm funding
quality
as the market matures and funding 
remains under pressure we are increasingly 
seeing consumers seeking higher quality 
products consumers are unwilling to waste 
their funds or moreover their biological 
samples on products that do not work 
suppliers who are able to provide higher 
quality products are likely to see a greater 
share of market growth therefore the 
continued introduction of highquality 
products such as those developed using 
our rabmab
®
 technology is a key part 
of our strategy
efficiency
we have seen a strong performance from 
our kits and assays business during the year 
just as consumers are seeking highquality 
products they are increasingly looking for 
kits containing products that have been 
validated to work together these kits offer 
consumers greater productivity through 
improved repeatability and a higher level 
of certainty that the product will work
board changes
as announced today alan hirzel has 
been appointed as chief executive officer 
i have worked closely with alan over the 
last year and he has been inspirational in 
the evolution of our strategy 
alan brings a rich and deep background in 
both life sciences and management with 
an impressive knowledge of our markets 
he has my full confidence and i believe 
there is no one better to take the company 
forward on the next phase of our journey 
i look forward to continuing to work closely 
with him and the strong leadership team at 
abcam in my new role as deputy chairman 
helping to seek out new technologies and 
opportunities which will further strengthen 
the company
other board changes are set out in more 
detail in the chairman’s introduction and 
i am delighted to welcome louise patten 
and look forward to working with murray 
hennessy in his role as chairman after 
the next agm
at that meeting peter keen and 
mike redmond who have been on the 
board for nine and five years respectively 
will be standing down i would like to pass 
on my personal thanks to both for their 
guidance and wisdom which has helped 
abcam become the company it is today
summing up
we have a clear strategy and a strong 
business model and during the year began 
to see the benefits of investment made to 
fuel organic growth the 201415 financial 
year has started well and with a strong 
team in place we look forward to driving 
growth in the business
jonathan milner
chief executive officer
8 september 2014
market trends and 
funding environment outlook
16 17
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
17
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
financial statements corporate governance strategic report overview
abcam enabled 
us to further  
vital research
dr william coward undertakes respiratory research 
investigating the mechanisms behind major lung conditions
his recent involvement in a clinical study to understand 
the different factors behind chronic obstructive pulmonary 
disease identified the need for an elisa kit that would 
quickly and easily allow him to measure fibrinogen 
a biomarker of the disease
a search on the internet enabled him to discover simplestep 
elisa™ kits manufactured in abcam’s us labs in eugene 
or the kits were the only products available on the market 
to meet his research needs
‘abcam enabled us to further vital research without 
simplestep elisa™ our research would not have taken 
place i was really impressed with the results as well as 
providing a reliable product that produced consistent results 
i was also able to take advantage of the supporting data 
available on the abcam website i had never measured 
fibrinogen before and abcam’s website provided all of the 
information i needed’ 
dr william coward
centre of respiratory medicine university of nottingham
meeting researchers’ needs
“
“ 18
abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
our strategy
scale organisation 
capabilities
sustain attractive 
economics
grow our core reagents 
business faster than 
the market
1
3 4
establish new 
growth platforms
selectively pursue 
partnerships 
and acquisitions
2 5
mission
to enable scientists to discover more
vision
to be the brand most recommended 
by life science researchers
strategy
to deliver sustainable profitable 
longterm growth
in order to fulfil our strategy we have identified 
five clear strategic priorities focused on running 
our business and delivering efficient growth 19
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
significant medium and longerterm opportunities exist 
for revenue growth from our existing consumer base 
as well as by attracting new consumers to our products
we aim to drive this growth by
  being more consumercentric
  focusing our marketing and product development launches on targets 
and research areas with the greatest scientific value to our consumers 
  using our flexible sourcing to find the best quality products 
  increasing focus on faster growing product lines where we have the greatest 
competitive advantage such as rabmab
®
 primaries
  continuing to build relationships with key opinion leaders and scientists  
‘at the bench’ to guide our product development pipeline to meet current 
research needs and
  improving our informationrich product datasheets by adding helpful  
and relevant scientific data to enable scientists to make informed  
product decisions
progress in the year
we have made substantial process on this initiative during the year we
  solidified our position as market leader in rabbit monoclonal antibodies through 
our rabmab
®
 technology and increased the conversion of consumers to its 
benefits the resulting growth from rabmab
®
 products was 171 in the year 
on a constant currency basis easily outstripping the broader primary antibody 
market growth 
  introduced over 1730 rabmab
®
 products
  launched a new marketing and innovation initiative to focus on highvalue 
protein targets see the insert on page 15 for an example of our success
  added 11521 new products in the year with a growing percentage focused 
on the research areas where we are building strength
  introduced a new selection of alexa fluor
®
 conjugated secondary antibodies 
to our existing range alexa fluor
®
 dyes guarantee bright staining and low 
background the new colour variants were selected to provide an increased 
selection for multicolour staining
  hosted 17 scientific events and 15 webinars during the year allowing us 
to connect to over 3300 consumers these conferences provide us the 
opportunity to increase awareness of our products and ensure we remain 
abreast of the work our consumers are undertaking and
  added several new features to the website to improve consumers’ 
experience and engagement
grow our core reagent busine ss faster than the market
focus for 201415
focus on developing highquality products to 
highvalue targets particularly where we can 
leverage our proprietary rabmab
®
 technology
continue to grow the catalogue around 
research areas which we believe offer 
the greatest market potential
establish linkages across our product 
categories to increase the purchase  
of nonprimary antibody products
measuring our success
  rabmab
® 
primary revenue growth
  net promoter score
  market position
read more about  
our kpis on page 29
number of rabmab
®
 
products added in the year
1730
revenue from inhouse 
products and services
388
1 20
abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
our strategy continued
there are opportunities to drive our growth by adding 
new product ranges or services which are attractive 
to our consumer base either in the same or adjacent 
segments in which we operate and by extending our 
geographic penetration
abcam has established a marketleading position within the primary antibody 
research market however there are segments of this market where we see lower 
penetration as such there is greater opportunity for growth from understanding 
the consumer’s needs within each segment of the market and tailoring our 
product offering accordingly
furthermore there are several product segments adjacent to the research primary 
antibody market in which we are under penetrated there is an opportunity to 
increase our market share in these areas by utilising our product sourcing capability 
to develop and launch highquality innovative new products for our consumer base
progress in the year
in 201314 sales from our kits and assays grew by 423 on a constant currency 
basis over the prior year with over 770 highquality products added to this line 
including innovations such as simplestep elisa™
we launched a new range of simplestep elisa™ kits in september 2013 
these kits have a greatly simplified protocol when compared with standard 
multistep elisas providing significant time savings and ease of use the kits 
require no specialised training or instrumentation and in contrast to standard 
elisa achieve increased accuracy by reducing the number of sample handling 
steps in addition a more efficient insolution binding process provides superior 
sensitivity and specificity we added 150 of these kits to our catalogue during 
the year 
following the conclusion of a large consumer intelligence gathering exercise 
involving over 14000 life science researchers we have segmented our consumers 
into several distinct groupings within each of which we assess that we have 
varying levels of market share each segment has different product and service 
needs and during the year we have begun to differentiate our product offering 
and marketing messages to meet the needs of these segments
to support our focus on increasing geographic reach and improving distribution 
channels to rapidly growing markets we opened a new office in shanghai 
china in february 2014 the office houses consumer and technical support 
functions provided by native mandarin speakers as well as a full logistics 
operation offering both control and speed advantages over our previous 
bonded warehouse arrangement this means that consumers now benefit 
from improved delivery times and service levels the proximity of the office 
also means we can support consumers with more specific needs through 
our extensive range of products and services since its opening we have 
reached a headcount of 13 staff by the year end
establish new growth platforms
focus for 201415
continue to use our data and consumer insight 
to prioritise which kits and assays to provide 
and incorporate our rabmab
®
 technology into 
new product development where appropriate
make market share gains in activity assays 
proteins and peptides immunoassays and 
research biochemicals
continue penetration into market 
segments where abcam has a lower 
share of consumer spend 
use our office in shanghai to drive the growth 
of revenues from china
measuring our success
  nonprimaries revenue growth
  net promoter score
  market position
read more about  
our kpis on page 29
kits and assays  
grown by
423
number of staff in new  
shangai office
13
2 21
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
focus for 201415
implement a common set of performance 
targets and meritbased incentives across 
the group to reward success
invest in our consumer relationship management 
software to support our increased focus on 
consumers and our accounting software to 
ensure the continued provision of timely and 
accurate financial data as we grow
implement a multiyear review of our it platform 
to ensure that it supports our objectives and 
provides the necessary flexibility and speed 
of delivery as our business develops
complete work to relocate our manufacturing 
facility in hangzhou to improve our capabilities 
and enable more targeted production in line 
with our strategy 
conclude planning for a new site in the 
uk as we look to combine our current three 
officeslaboratories in cambridge into one 
consolidated headquarters
measuring our success
  overall pr ofitability
our people are one of our major assets and are 
instrumental in creating an efficient and scalable 
organisation we aim to attract and retain the best 
people empower them to succeed and build the 
capabilities necessary to deliver our strategy 
we believe that staff engagement is important to the success of our business 
we invest in our employees by hiring a mix of graduates and industry experts 
developing them and providing a supportive culture to maximise their capability 
and potential
we also strive to maintain a lean and efficient organisation by streamlining 
and investing in our processes to ensure we meet consumers’ needs in terms 
of breadth quality and availability of products
by ensuring we leverage our operational efficiency and costeffectiveness 
we aim to deliver consistent profitable growth
progress in the year
we have undertaken a significant internal reorganisation in 201314 the 
result of which is that the group now has a single global management 
structure by providing clearer accountability closer working relationships 
and tight alignment to our strategic objectives we believe that the new 
structure will make a significant contribution to our future success
to support our organic growth initiatives we have also invested in the quality 
of our senior management by recruiting highcalibre and experienced talent 
to head up each of our major product categories this talent recruitment drive 
extended across the organisation to ensure we had the right people in place 
to support our continued organic growth plans in addition we implemented 
a common set of cultural behaviours to help ensure we retain our dynamic 
and positive culture as we grow
we have also invested further in our core it systems to ensure they support 
the delivery of our next stage of growth
scale organisation capabilities
ceo
cfo
marketing
commercial
coo
new organisation structure
hr
logistics
it
production 
and rd
 
hangzhou 
 
eugene
cambridge 
uk
bristol burlingame
americas
abcam ivd 
burlingame
china emea rest of asia
3
japan 22
abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
our strategy continued
by ensuring that we leverage our operational efficiency 
and costeffectiveness we will be able to deliver 
sustainable profitable growth
we aim over the longer term to grow our revenues in excess of our cost base 
and invest only in highreturn projects
progress in the year
during the year we restructured our cost base to maximise costeffectiveness 
catalogue revenues grew by 100 on a constant currency basis which 
outpaced the growth seen in the broader markets for example funding 
for life science research in the us declined 50 in us fiscal year 2013 and 
increased by 32 in us fiscal year 2014 however our us revenues grew 
by 45 on a constant currency basis in the year to june 2013 and 86 
for the year to june 2014
adjusted operating profit margins in 201314 reduced to 364 from 381 
reflecting the additional selective investment made to support the organic growth 
initiatives we attained a return on capital employed roce of 245
gross margins were broadly flat as the positive impact from product mix 
pricing and inventory management was more than offset by the negative 
impact from foreign exchange rates
we remain highly cash generative with £512m of cash flow from operations 
in the year closing balance sheet cash was £569m without any debt our strong 
balance sheet provides us with the flexibility to execute on investment and 
acquisition opportunities should they arise
sustain attractive economics
focus for 201415
we remain focused on generating strong 
revenue growth above that of our markets 
we will continue to make investments that 
we feel will drive medium to longterm revenue 
growth shareholder return is important as is 
ensuring a healthy return on capital employed
measuring our success
  profitability and return on capital
return on capital 
employed
245
closing  
balance sheet
569m
4 23
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
to supplement the other components of our strategy 
we will increasingly seek to work with partners that offer 
complementary products in the life science market 
these partnerships may take a wide range of forms 
from licensing and codevelopments through to equity 
investments and acquisitions 
we seek to work with partners who share our mission of enabling researchers 
to discover more as well as working directly with collaborators to enable 
their research
progress in the year
within the year we worked with over 20 research collaborations across a 
host of activities such as product codevelopment product validation and 
research sponsorship
negotiations with cell marque during the year resulted in the signing of a global 
strategic marketing agreement with them after the year end under this agreement 
abcam gains access to cell marque’s extensive distribution channel and sales 
force into the ivd market to sell our ivdgrade products derived from our 
rabmab
®
 technology we are delighted at the opportunity to work so closely 
with one of the world’s largest ivd distributors
selectively pursue partnerships and acquisitions
focus for 201415
actively seek out new partnerships and investment 
opportunities that support our strategy and 
leverage our competitive advantage
continue to work with collaborators on the 
codevelopment of innovative products which 
enable our consumers to discover more
measuring our success
  market position
  rabmab
® 
primary revenue growth
  nonprimary revenue growth
read more about  
our kpis on page 29
5
5
sourcing the right products
how do we source 
our products
abcam uses a dual supply model when sourcing products 
first by working with over 400 oem partners we are able 
to maintain a broad offering of products on our catalogue 
to ensure we are able to meet our customers’ needs and 
support their research second by utilising our inhouse 
development capabilities we are able to work closely with 
our consumers to produce highquality innovative products 24
abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
risks and risk management
like every business the group faces risks in the undertaking of its  
daytoday operations and in pursuit of its longerterm objectives 
group functions
subsidiary companies
identification assessment and management  
of mitigation
abcam board
ownership and monitoring
internal control committee
challenge and review
audit committee
review
executive dire ctors
management of key risks and maintenance 
of risk register
further information on those risks and how 
they are managed by the group is set out 
on the following pages it is recognised that 
the group is exposed to a number of risks 
wider than those listed however we have 
chosen to disclose those currently of most 
concern to the business and those that 
have been the subject of debate at recent 
board or audit committee meetings
further additional information on the group’ s 
financial risk management strategy can be 
found in note 26 to the financial statements
the group has an established risk 
management process for identifying 
assessing evaluating and managing 
significant risks the structure of which 
is summarised in the diagram above
the board of directors has overall 
responsibility for the establishment and 
oversight of the group’s risk management 
framework its role is to set the tone and 
influence the culture of risk management 
within the group determine the group’s 
risk prioritisation protocol and monitor 
the management of fundamental risks
the executive directors are responsible 
for maintaining the group’s risk register 
including the identification and evaluation 
of any newly recognised risks and 
implementing mitigating actions in a timely 
manner ensuring there is an open and 
receptive approach to solving risk problems 
in the group embedding risk management 
as part of the system of internal control 
within the group and updating the board 
on the status of risks and controls
an internal controls committee challenges 
and reviews the risks identified within 
subsidiary companies and group functions 
it maintains a view on changes in the 
business that may give rise to new risks 
or risk areas and reports status to the 
executive directors its reports are also 
made available to the audit committee
our risk management policies are 
constantly reviewed taking into account 
current market conditions and the group’s 
activities significant risks which are defined 
with reference to magnitude of impact and 
likelihood of occurrence are escalated to 
the group risk register which is formally 
reviewed by the board twice a year 25
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
strategic risks
issue risk mitigation
changing 
marketplace
abcam continues to derive a large portion of 
its revenues from government funding into life 
science research while it is difficult for us to 
determine the exact level is thought to be 
somewhere around 80 of our revenues 
as such any substantial reduction in funding 
as a response to a fiscal contraction in one 
of our key territories could have an adverse 
effect on the demand for abcam’s products 
in addition as we have outlined in our market 
overview on page 12 increasingly we are 
seeing the far east contributing a greater 
proportion to life science research output 
abcam has opened its shanghai office in the year 
this increases our access to the rapidly growing china 
market while also further diversifying our revenues from 
any single government funding source we also remain 
of the view that abcam’s products which are research 
consumables are more resilient to budget cuts than 
large capital investment projects
competition
there are a large number of research reagent 
suppliers around the world these companies 
vary in the types of reagents they sell from 
suppliers focusing heavily on antibodies to 
those with a broader product offering in addition 
as abcam’s growth strategy increasingly 
penetrates adjacent markets our success 
may lead to incumbent competitors investing 
further in their products offerings
abcam maintains a state of high vigilance to the actions 
of our competitors over the years we have established 
a large network of product suppliers around the world 
and we continue to invest in securing new products 
and investing in our website and logistics network 
we feel that each of these present a substantial barrier 
to entry furthermore the many years of investment 
in our product content and datasheets represent a 
substantial portion of the value proposition for our 
consumers replication of our supply channels logistic 
network and datasheet would be very challenging
alignment to strategy particular areas of focus in the year
the reorganisation of the group to support future growth has involved an 
increase in both recruitment and staff turnover as such we have put in place 
a series of mitigating actions and resources to ensure that we are filling key 
roles promptly and with highly talented candidates
the 2013 health and safety audit identified matters in our production 
site in hangzhou which were addressed by recruiting an experienced health 
and safety manager providing more training for staff and investment in the 
facilities the site was audited again six months later when these actions 
were found to have brought significant improvements and we plan to 
improve this further with a move to a new facility
scalable  
organisation
attractive  
economics
grow reagents 
business
1
3 4
growth  
platforms
 partnerships  
and acquisitions
2 5
2
1
3
2
1
3 26
abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
risks and risk management continued
commercial risks
issue risk mitigation
supplier 
relationships
abcam may lose a supplier if for example 
that supplier’s business changed in such a 
way that it was no longer willing or able to 
continue to provide products
abcam has over 400 suppliers many of whom it has had 
relationships with for several years this makes losing 
a supplier less likely but if this were to occur abcam often 
has several antibodies to the same target while each 
is unique in the event of a particular product no longer 
being available abcam would look to offer consumers 
alternative products from within the catalogue
in the 201314 financial year no third party 
supplier products accounted for more than 25 
of group revenue
abcam has its own production capabilities which 
could also be utilised to generate alternative products 
revenues from our own manufactured products 
services and licences currently contribute just under 
40 of group revenue
product 
defensibility
it is possible that new technologies may 
emerge in the future as viable alternatives 
to the use of antibodies in protein detection
abcam has many contacts in the industry and 
dedicates resource to research emerging technologies 
within our sector in this way we look to stay abreast 
of technological developments in the field as far as 
is practicable with the aim of positioning the group 
to exploit the commercialisation of such technologies 
if they appear
legalregulatoryfinancial risks
issue risk mitigation
intellectual 
property ip
research antibodies are not typically 
protected by intellectual property rights and 
the market can be characterised as having 
relatively low barriers to entry in this regard 
however where such rights are claimed to  
be the subject of third party patents or other 
proprietary rights abcam may be the subject 
of infringement actions or proceedings 
abcam has registered ip over the underlying 
rabmab
®
 technology rather than particular 
antibodies the risk here is of workarounds 
to this ip 
abcam believes that its principal protection in the 
market lies with its business model rather than through 
intellectual property rights the breadth of highly 
specified products in its catalogue its ability to add 
products quickly and cheaply its extensive supplier 
base and its own production capability and brand  
each act as significant barriers to entry for competitors 
in addition abcam has no single product dependency 
for example its biggest selling product accounts for 
less than 06 of group revenue meaning that any 
infringement actions are likely to have a minimal impact 
on sales
it is also our strategy to quickly commercialise 
our rabmab
®
 technology having products already 
in market provides defensibility and limits the 
potential impact of any workarounds our rabmab
®
 
technology is defended by a number of patents and 
we take steps to enhance this protection through 
further ip registrations as well as working to improve 
the underlying technology to remain differentiated 
from competing workarounds
2
1
3
5
2
1
3
5
1 27
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
legalregulatoryfinancial risks continued
issue risk mitigation
international 
trade regulation
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 increasing geographical reach 
and continual expansion of our portfolio 
also exposes us to a wider set of 
regulatory restrictions
abcam closely monitors any changes to international 
import and export regulations and seeks to adapt its 
procedures wherever possible to ensure that the 
movement of products is not affected while maintaining 
compliance with such regulations
health and safety 
and regulatory
as our product range expands the number 
of different potential hsregulatory risks 
grows for example in recent years with 
the production storage and shipment 
of biochemicals
we have worked to ensure that our internal hs 
processes are appropriate to handle our products 
and that we have the correct classifications for the 
products we sell on the catalogue we use an external 
consultancy to perform an annual hs audit across 
the group and undertake an internal audit on any new 
entities as they are acquired
distributor 
relationships
in certain areas of the world abcam 
works through third party distributors who 
undertake marketing support activities and 
provide local logistical support consequently 
abcam is dependent on their fulfilling these 
roles in an effective and efficient manner so 
as to enable sales to continue to grow in these 
regions the distributors act as customers 
and therefore represent a financial risk for 
uncollected account balances
distributors typically work on annual contracts 
and there is a detailed qualification process which  
they are required to go through before being 
appointed outside of japan where we sell directly 
to subdealers distributor sales amounted to around 
17 of total sales in 201314 we have a team 
dedicated to maintaining close relationships with our 
distributors to continue to deliver revenue growth
foreign currency 
exposure
the group has significant operations outside 
the uk and as such is exposed to exchange rate 
fluctuation in particular the strength of sterling 
relative to the us dollar euro japanese yen 
and chinese renminbi although there are 
natural hedges in place due to the fact that 
the group is able to utilise a proportion of 
its income in foreign currencies to pay for 
outgoings in those currencies in particular 
the us dollar the group generates surpluses 
of each currency
the board’s policy is to sell forward some of the 
expected surplus in order to reduce the shortterm 
exposure however longerterm movements in 
the relative strength of sterling will impact the 
group’s profits
complexity
the size of our operation and the number 
of employees has grown rapidly both 
organically and by acquisition this brings 
with it the challenges of managing over 
large geographic distances and  
implementing appropriate systems 
policies and compliance procedures 
in different jurisdictions
abcam has grown quickly for several years and 
is familiar with many of the issues this presents 
the group continues to invest in its infrastructure 
and apply the resources necessary to support the 
business and ensure that appropriate controls are 
in place
1
1
4
1
2
3
3 28
abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
risks and risk management continued
operational risks
issue risk mitigation
infrastructure
abcam operates in a market which it 
has been able to exploit through the use 
of online and ecommercebased systems 
these systems need to be robust efficient 
and scalable in order for the group to continue 
to manage its growth the risks here are 
both from the infrastructure and organisation 
of the it systems as well as the ability of 
abcam’s products to be found by online 
users through popular internet search engines
the group invests extensively in its it systems both from 
scalability and security points of view as well as from 
usability aspects abcam uses a global content delivery 
partner to increase both the reliability and access 
speed for viewing the majority of its static site content 
dynamic content is served from an external fully 
supported data centre the group outsources regular 
security penetration testing on its website to a third party 
and pays considerable attention internally to search 
engine optimisation and usability of the website through 
user testing feedback and surveys all ecommerce 
systems experience some level of outage from time 
to time so we continue to take action to improve our 
disaster recovery responses as well as to work on the 
design of our application architecture to minimise the 
single points of failure within our systems the overall 
aim is to minimise the risk of any material impact on 
the business and indeed there were no outages during 
the year that caused a material impact
integration
to support the group’s growth strategy of 
expanding into new markets and diversifying 
its product range it may be necessary to 
acquire other companies from time to time 
in order for these acquisitions to perform in 
line with management’s expectations and 
to minimise disruption to other areas of the 
business they need to be integrated into the 
group’s existing operations as appropriate 
in an efficient and timely manner
integration steps are planned in outline prior to 
acquisition and abcam has dedicated resources 
to lead the integration of acquired entities there are 
open channels of communication across all levels 
of the group which means that any issues identified 
are highlighted and responded to in an appropriate 
manner furthermore the continued investment in the 
integration and adaptability of the systems operated 
across the group are planned to also contribute to the 
successful integration of new businesses and products
staff recruitment 
and retention
the contribution made by abcam’s highly 
skilled and dedicated staff has been and will 
continue to be important to abcam’s future 
success as the group’s profile grows it is 
important that it is able to continue to recruit 
and retain highcalibre staff
abcam places great emphasis on open communication 
with employees including quarterly groupwide 
meetings weekly office newsletters and regular staff 
committee meetings there are also share ownership 
schemes with rewards based on seniority within the 
business abcam looks to create a supportive working 
environment employees are provided with significant 
opportunities for learning and development and are 
encouraged to provide feedback on this via an annual 
staff survey 
2
1
3 4
4
5
3 29
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
171
1 all growth numbers are on a constant currency basis
18
343
1 all growth numbers are on a constant currency basis
335 
 
201213
1
19 
 
201213
324 
 
201213
1
171 
 
201314
1
18 
 
201314
343 
 
201314
1
rabmab
®
 primaries revenue growth
1
  
net promoter score nps   
nonprimaries revenue growth
1
   
market position   
during the year we saw a continued increase in demand from consumers 
for rabmab
®
 primaries while the market still remains heavily based on 
traditional polyclonal and mouse monoclonal antibodies we are seeing 
more consumers switching to rabmab
®
 primaries for the greater 
specificity and lottolot consistency benefits they offer
within 201314 rabmab
®
 primaries contributed to 152 of group product 
revenue and grew at 171 on a constant currency basis 2013 335 
the reduction of revenue growth during the year was partly attributable to 
the impact of the distributor transitions in china higher levels of promotional 
activity and some reclassification of products used for diagnostics purposes 
into the ivd area of our business going forward we see rabmab
®
 
primaries as a large part of abcam’s growth strategy and an increasing 
contributor to the group’s revenue we are targeting a growth rate of 
15–20 for 201415 against a market growth of primary antibodies 
of around 3–5
abcam’ s vision is to be the brand most recommended by life science 
researchers as such it is increasingly important that we focus on our 
consumers and listen to their feedback at several points within the year 
we conduct formal consumer surveys to determine their likelihood of 
recommending abcam’ s products and services to a colleague the balance 
of detractors and promoters is then computed into an nps using standard 
industry methods as we seek to measure success against our vision our 
nps will be an important metric
t o meet our targets for nps next year abcam will need to achieve a score 
of 20–22
abcam grew the proportion of group product revenues derived from 
products other than primary antibodies ‘nonprimaries’ to 166 in 
201314 this represented growth of 343 on a constant currency 
basis and continues a trend of high growth in recent years coming from 
this range of products going forward nonprimaries revenue growth will 
be a key component of our success as we seek to attain similar levels 
of market penetration to that we enjoy in the primary antibody market
as we move into 201415 we will continue to invest in new products 
and new platforms that are complementary to our consumer base and it 
is expected that a high portion of the impact from these initiatives will be 
felt within our nonprimaries revenue we are targeting a growth rate 
of 25–30 for 201415
abcam operates in several different markets with varying market positions 
since its inception abcam has risen to be the market leader in the research 
primary antibody market and our internal market intelligence suggests 
that when looking at the key markets in which we are focused we have 
the following positions
  1 in research primary antibodies
  3 in activity assays
  4 in proteins and peptides
  5 in immunoassays
  5 in research biochemicals
for the coming year we seek to maintain our 1 position in research 
primary antibodies as well as to improve towards 1 or 2 in at least 
two other areas
as part of abcam’s growth strategy the executive management has 
refocused its attention on a narrower set of kpis that best support 
the growth initiatives discussed earlier 
this is the first time these new kpis have been implemented and as such no previous targets were established 
however looking forward we have outlined targets for the coming year success against these kpis forms a 
component of the board and senior management’s bonus packages as outlined on pages 53 to 55
key performance indicators
1
2
1
2 5
1
5 2 5
1 in research primary antibodies abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
highlights
30
financial review
while reported revenues for the year were 
up by 47 to £1280m stripping out the 
negative effect from the relative strengthening 
of sterling during the year shows a much 
stronger underlying performance with 
revenue growth from sales of products in 
our catalogue of 100 or 86 overall 
after increased investment in the business 
adjusted profit before tax was £468m which 
is marginally higher than last year £466m
as outlined in last year’ s report the 201314 
financial year has been one of investment 
in support of our growth strategy the 
success of which demands that we listen 
to our consumers and ensure that we use 
the insights gained to shape our business 
in practical terms this has meant increased 
headcount particularly at the senior level 
new product development activities and 
investment in operational assets such as 
the website and the new office in shanghai 
at the same time we have been careful not to 
lose our focus on tight cost and cash control 
as indicated at the time of our interims the 
directors are recommending that the annual 
dividend for the current year should increase 
by 101 which at 430 is above that 
of our recent policy of distributing 40 of 
adjusted posttax profit the directors feel 
that this dividend is justified given the profit 
impact of the increased investment this year 
in organic growth initiatives aimed at delivering 
future profits as well as the underlying 
financial strength and the continued 
cashgenerative nature of the business
the table opposite shows revenues 
costs and expenses for the year which 
have been adjusted to aid comparison 
by separately identifying the amortisation 
of acquisitionrelated intangible assets
revenue
the relative strengthening of sterling 
during the year against the other currencies 
in which the group trades has partly offset 
the underlying growth in revenues 
particularly in the second half of the year 
consequently while on a constant 
currency basis in which we assume 
exchange rates had remained unchanged 
from 201213 product revenues grew by 
100 and overall revenues by 86 the 
reported revenue for the year of £1280m 
represents 47 growth on the prior year 
gross margins 
gross margins decreased slightly to 706 
in 201314 from 710 in the prior year as 
the positive impact on margins from good 
inventory management and product mix was 
more than offset by the impact of exchange 
rates mainly those of the us dollar to 
sterling the majority of our cost of sales 
is denominated in us dollars approximately 
747 versus 556 of sales in the year 
and there has been a rapid and sustained 
weakening of the dollar over the year 
given that there is often a delay between the 
timing of the purchasing or manufacturing 
stock and its subsequent sale such 
movements have resulted in an adverse 
mismatch between the exchange rate used 
to translate dollardenominated sales and 
that used to translate the associated cost 
of units sold
administration and 
management expenses
as foreshadowed last year in order to 
further support the new activities being 
undertaken to drive medium and longterm 
organic growth investment has been made 
in 201314 which has increased the cost 
base the table opposite identifies these 
costs and shows that after adjusting for 
nonrecurring items in 201213 restatements 
to allow for exchange rate movements and 
the gains arising on forward selling currency 
contracts as described in note 21 the base 
cost of the business in 201213 increased 
by 64 in 201314 which is below the 
growth in revenues
revenue
1280m
adjusted profit before tax
468m
adjusted diluted earning 
per share
1806p
a large focus for this year has been 
implementing our growth strategy which 
has required sel ect investment in our 
cost base including staff and new 
product development
“
“ 31
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
adjusted income statement
201314 201213
adjusted
income
statement
£000
acquisition
related
intangible
amortisation
£000
reported
ifrs
income
statement
£000
adjusted
income
statement
£000
acquisition
related
intangible
amortisation
£000
integration
costs
£000
reported
ifrs
income
statement
£000
revenue 127954 — 127954 122206 — — 122206
cost of sales 37569 — 37569 35500 — — 35500
gross profit 90385 — 90385 86706 — — 86706
administration and management expenses 35501 1517 37018 33987 1525 400 35912
rd expenses 8306 1748 10054 6189 1757 — 7946
operating profit 46578 3265 43313 46530 3282 400 42848
finance income 238 — 238 129 — — 129
finance costs — — — 83 — — 83
profit before tax 46816 3265 43551 46576 3282 400 42894
taxation 10697 1191 9506 11452 1258 42 10236
profit after tax 36119 2074 34045 35124 2024 442 32658
earnings per share      
basic 1816p 104p 1712p 1770p 102p 022p 1652p
diluted 1806p 104p 1702p 1757p 101p 022p 1634p
change in administration and management expense
201314
£000
201213
£000
total administration and management expenses as reported 37018 35912 
acquisitionrelated intangible amortisation 1517 1525
gains on forward selling contracts 1659 947
sharebased payments charge 678 1211
impact of restating 201213 to 201314 rates — 724
oneoff market and product review and integration costs — 1702
recruitment and remuneration of senior personnel 1291 —
costs of shanghai office 571 —
incremental amortisation of itrelated capital expenditure 881 —
base administration and management expenses before new activities in 201314 33739  31697 
foreign currency exchange rates
average for the year average for h1 average for h2
201314 201213 201314 201213 201314 201213
us dollar 162 157 157 159 167 155
euro 120 122 118 125 122 118
japanese yen 16361 13593 15596 12641 17126 14546
hong kong dollar 1257 1220 1221 1234 1294 1205
canadian dollar 174 158 164 159 183 157
chinese renminbi 995 987 963 1003 1028 971 abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
32
financial review continued
research and 
development expenditure
research and development rd expenditure 
relates to the development of new products 
as well as costs incurred in searching for and 
developing production process improvements 
these costs do not meet the requirements 
to be capitalised as an intangible asset and 
are therefore expensed through the income 
statement as incurred
total rd expenditure increased to £101m 
in the year from £79m in 201213 or to 
£83m from £62m excluding the amortisation 
of acquisitionrelated intangibles this reflects 
increased investment in new product 
development as part of our organic growth 
strategy particularly around products utilising 
rabmab
®
 technology expanding the range 
of directly conjugated antibodies and inhouse 
development of immunoassays many of 
these products are against highvalue 
targets which present additional 
manufacturing challenges
earnings and tax
the adjusted profit before tax was £468m 
on which the effective tax rate was 228 
which was lower than the 246 reported last 
year due to a reduction in the uk corporation 
tax rate and the full year effect of the group 
reorganisation that took place in 201213 
after taking into account the deferred tax 
impact of acquisitionrelated intangible 
amortisation the reported effective tax 
rate was 218 201213 239
balance sheet and cash flow
goodwill and other intangibles
goodwill at the year end was £735m versus 
£820m in the prior year the decrease is 
due to exchange rate movements arising 
because the functional currency of the 
acquired companies to which the goodwill 
relates is predominately us dollars
the decision was taken in 201213 following 
the changes made post acquisition to how 
mitosciences ascent scientific and epitomics 
were structured and integrated within the 
group that it was appropriate to reallocate 
the goodwill arising from those acquisitions 
to a single cashgenerating unit cgu 
which would reflect the reorganised business 
structure goodwill is not amortised under 
ifrs but is subject to impairment review at 
least on an annual basis consequently during 
the year the directors performed a review 
which involved making various assumptions 
regarding the future performance of the 
business after considering various scenarios 
that could reasonably occur the directors 
concluded that no impairment was required 
for more details please see note 12 to the 
financial statements
other intangible assets at 30 june 2014 
were £302m compared with £331m at 
30 june 2013 this movement primarily 
reflects the amortisation of the intangible 
assets offset by the additions to capitalised 
software costs from the investment in our 
core it systems and the impact of exchange 
rates on nonsterling denominated assets 
which was partly described in more detail 
above following a review of software costs 
previously capitalised an impairment charge 
of £05m was taken in the year to reflect 
those elements which as our strategy has 
developed now relate to work which will 
no longer recover its carrying value other 
intangible assets are amortised over their 
estimated useful lives and the amortisation 
of acquisitionrelated intangible assets has 
been added back in arriving at adjusted 
profit as outlined above
capital expenditure
additions of property plant and equipment 
and intangible assets totalled £74m 
201213 £73m this reflects continued 
investment in support of our organic growth 
strategy the major items include
  continuation of the core it investment 
that began in 201112 to support the 
next stage of abcam’s growth a total 
of £35m was capitalised in the year 
including £08m of internal salary cost
  development of new hybridomas using our 
rabmab
®
 technology of £15m with a 
further £03m expenditure on hybridomas 
under construction
  office equipment expenditure of £08m 
this is an increase of £04m over the prior 
year mainly due to the opening of our 
shanghai office in february 2014 and
  investment in laboratory equipment 
of £07m
cash flow 
our track record of strong cash generation 
continued in the year and we finished the 
period with net cash and term deposits 
of £569m 201213 £383m and no bank 
debt 201213 £nil
cash generated by operations was 
£512m or 399 of group revenue 
201213 £518m 424 of revenue as 
working capital again contributed positively 
to cash flow albeit the positive inflow was 
£09m lower than last year the overall net 
movement in cash and term deposits in 
201314 was £186m 201213 £208m
looking forward
it is encouraging to see the early signs 
of increased organic growth coming 
through in 201314 in the coming year 
we will continue to invest in areas such 
as product development ecommerce 
marketing and infrastructure we believe 
that these investments will drive sales 
in the medium to long term and provide 
a healthy return
as we grow and reinvest in our business 
we will continue to focus on tight cost 
management and effective financial controls 
to ensure we sustain attractive economics
jeff iliffe
chief financial officer
8 september 2014
we continue to be strongly cash 
generative with cash flow from 
operations of £512m
“
“ 33
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
corporate social responsibility
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
respect for people and diversity
employee experience and satisfaction in the 
workplace is very important to us operating 
our business in a nondiscriminating manner 
that focuses on fair treatment and respect 
for each other is a core value and underpins 
our interactions with employees consumers 
and suppliers
the board and the people and 
organisational development function 
are responsible for ensuring that our 
policies and practices reflect best practice 
for equality of opportunity and longterm 
professional development for our employees
our workplace is free of harassment and 
bullying and we strive to create a positive 
environment that is supportive enables 
employees to fulfil their maximum potential 
and drives business performance
we are committed to ensuring that within 
the framework of the law abcam is free 
from discrimination on the grounds of
  disability
  age
  race
  religion or belief
  sex sexual orientation 
or gender reassignment
  marital or civil partnership status and
  pregnancy or maternity
abcam is an equal opportunities 
employer and ensures that applications 
for employment from people with disabilities 
and other underrepresented groups are 
given full and fair consideration such 
individuals are given the same training 
development and job opportunities as other 
employees every effort is also made to 
retrain and support employees who have 
a form of disability during their employment 
including flexible working to assist their 
reentry into the workplace and making 
alternative suitable provisions
our people and organisational development 
policies are reviewed regularly to ensure 
that they are nondiscriminatory and promote 
equality of opportunity in particular 
recruitment selection promotion training 
and development policies and practices 
are monitored to ensure that all employees 
have the opportunity to train and develop 
according to their abilities
the table below shows the gender split 
of employees across all office and locations 
based on the closing headcount at the end 
of june 2013 and june 2014
corporate social responsibility is integral to our success 
we aspire to carry out  our business activities to the highest 
ethical standards act responsibly and make a positive impact 
in our interactions with stakeholders
30 june 2014 –
 malefemale
30 june 2013 –
 malefemale
directors 91 80
senior managers 93 112
all employees 344404 328376 abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
34
corporate social responsibility continued
as part of our overall learning and 
development strategy we have initiated 
a range of training initiatives including 
an online programme with the wharton 
school of the university of pennsylvania to 
provide highquality training for our employees
listening to our employees enables us to 
forge good relationships and develop our 
talent we run an annual survey to obtain 
employee feedback and we make sure the 
results are made available to our managers 
for action
to recognise the contribution and 
achievements of our employees we 
have implemented a global recognition 
scheme to reward individual and team 
achievements for contribution to 
consumercentric behaviour
managing our culture and working 
as one global team
to build on our strong culture and to 
maintain important values we have 
implemented a clear set of behaviours 
that form a framework defining our culture 
and leadership style and outlining what 
we value in a highperformance global team 
these behaviours guide how we conduct 
our business and allow us to develop positive 
relationships with all stakeholders 
the behaviours are being focused on 
success bold and consumercentric
supporting the community
we regularly donate to a range of local 
national and international charities 
charitable donations are managed by 
the charity committee which is made 
up exclusively of employees in 201314 
the group made charitable donations of 
£96k 201213 £92k we also work very 
closely with local businesses such as the 
cambridge network and judge business 
school by giving talks and presentations 
and support students with their career 
progression through work experience 
internships and gap year placements
health safety and the environment
supporting health safety and the 
environment are important elements to our 
success we view the standards of health 
and safety required by law as only being 
the minimum and endeavour to follow best 
practice at all sites 
developing and attracting talent
we have continued to develop our employees while adding to our skills and experience by the recruitment of 
industryleading talent we have scaled our organisational capabilities by fully integrating our acquired companies 
and establishing a clear global organisational structure
innovation and 
manufacturing
marketing 
and category 
management
regional commercial 
operations
global operations 
and logistics
it finance
people and 
organisational 
development
being able to provide advice and monitor 
health and safety on site rather than rely 
on central involvement has meant that any 
specific issues can be quickly resolved 
steve hadley
health and safety coordinator abcam eugene
“
“ 35
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
the group complies with all local legislation 
relevant to the respective territories with 
regards to health safety and the environment
we have continued to make good progress 
with the development of our global safety 
network to become more selfreliant 
we have provided support and training to 
employees so they can take ownership 
of health and safety across all our sites 
each now has a dedicated person to 
manage health and safety and work towards 
a consistent set of global safety standards 
which are monitored by full annual audits of 
each site the results and recommendations 
for ongoing improvements are presented to 
the board shared at biannual global health 
and safety steering committee meetings 
and discussed extensively with local 
senior management
the 201314 health and safety audit identified 
specific areas of concern in our hangzhou 
production facility these were addressed 
by the appointment of a dedicated and 
experienced health and safety manager on 
site more training for staff increased local 
accountability for health and safety as part 
of the global restructuring of our operations 
and in facilities the site was reaudited 
six months later and these investments 
were found to have brought 
significant improvements
to support the environment we have 
a range of initiatives from recycling to 
encouraging staff to cycle to work and 
wherever possible using bicycle couriers 
to deliver and collect unwanted packaging
wellbeing
we have continued to develop our wellbeing 
programme as we believe a healthy working 
environment directly affects employee 
engagement performance and ultimately 
consumer experience
wellbeing events are delivered to all global 
offices encouraging a culture of teamwork 
and employee engagement throughout the 
year we have supported employee physical 
and emotional wellbeing through a range 
of events including mental health and first 
aid courses stress reduction workshops 
cycle safety seminars table tennis coaching 
and yoga and pilates classes
this year alongside hundreds of other 
companies we have signed up to the 
global corporate challenge gcc which 
is a 100 day event that encourages 
employees to be more active this has 
been well received by our staff with 
210 employees assigned to 30 teams 
global health and safety
each site works towards a consistent set of global safety standards
shanghai
tokyo
burlingame
eugene
boston
bristol
cambridge
hangzhou
hong kong abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
36
abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
“
“
corporate governance
  board of directors – page 38
  senior leadership team slt – page 40
  regional managers – page 42
  corporate governance  
statement – page 43
  audit committee – page 46
  nomination committee – page 49
  remuneration report – page 51
  directors’ report – page 69
in this section
mike redmond
chairman
at abcam we believe tha t 
effective governance not only 
in the boardroom but right across 
the business ultimately produces 
a better business and supports  
longterm growth 37
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
chairman’s introduction to governance
good governance at abcam
at abcam we are committed to achieving 
high standards of corporate governance and 
have established policies and procedures 
which are designed to facilitate good 
governance in a practical and workable 
way good governance is an evolving 
process and our aim is to implement best 
practice in order to deliver effectively on our 
strategic objectives we believe that effective 
governance is realised through leadership 
and collaboration resulting in consistently 
focused and sensible business decisions
the reports on the following pages explain 
our governance arrangements in detail and 
describe how we have applied the principles 
contained in the uk corporate governance 
code 2012 ‘the code’
we have expanded the information provided 
in our audit committee report to take 
account of the new code requirements 
considerable time and effort has also been 
spent during the year in the review of our 
remuneration policies and in ensuring that 
the remuneration report provides the 
appropriate level of disclosure
the core activities of the board include
  providing entrepreneurial leadership 
within a framework of prudent and 
effective controls for risk assessment 
and management
  setting the strategic aims of the group 
ensuring that resources are in place for the 
group to meet its objectives and reviewing 
management performance and
  setting the values and standards of the 
group and ensuring that its obligations to 
shareholders and others are understood 
and met
monitoring risk
monitoring the level of risk and ensuring 
appropriate governance to support this 
remains a key objective involving the support 
of the audit committee it is important that 
we continue to drive the level of challenge 
and debate around risk as well as monitor 
and test our understanding of risk and our 
tolerance as our business evolves
i continue to be pleased with the performance 
of the group and believe that we have a 
strong and very able board in place which 
has demonstrated its commitment to drive 
and support future growth
statement of compliance 
with the code
although not required to do so as an aim 
listed company we have chosen to report 
on how abcam has complied with and 
applied the principles of the code including 
both the main principles and the supporting 
principles further explanation of how the 
main principles have been applied is set 
out below and in connection with directors’ 
remuneration in the directors’ 
remuneration report
throughout the year ended 30 june 2014 
the company has been in compliance with 
the provisions set out in the code the 
board confirms that the 201314 annual 
report and accounts taken as a whole 
is fair balanced and understandable and 
provides the information necessary for 
shareholders to assess the performance 
strategy and business model of the company 
in accordance with c11 of the code
mike redmond
chairman
8 september 2014
view our full board of 
directors and leadership 
team on the following pages 38
abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
board of directors
abcam’s board of directors has the breadth and depth of skills necessary to guide the group 
as it seeks to take full advantage of new opportunities and contend with new challenges
mike redmond
ma cantab
appointment march 2009
experience mike has 
substantial international 
experience in the 
pharmaceutical industry 
gained in both executive 
and nonexecutive capacities 
at businesses ranging from 
multinational organisations 
to startup companies 
after five years as chairman 
mike will be standing down 
from the board at the next 
agm which will be held 
in november 2014
external appointments 
he is currently chairman of 
dechra pharmaceuticals plc 
and his recent chairmanships 
include synexus clinical 
research plc arakis limited 
and microscience limited 
his executive career began at 
glaxo group plc in 1967 and 
he has held senior executive 
positions in marketing and 
management at companies 
including schering plough 
corporation and fisons plc
murray hennessy
mba
appointment 
november 2011
experience murray has 
an impressive track record 
of working internationally in 
customerfacing industries 
as well as significant experience 
of online businesses
external appointments 
until recently he was chief 
executive of thetrainlinecom 
the online train ticket retailer 
which he joined in 2008 prior to 
which he was chief executive 
of avis europe plc the car 
rental company between 
2001 and 2004 murray was 
the commercial director of 
john lewis department stores 
where he pioneered the store’ s 
online presence johnlewiscom 
after an early career as a 
management consultant in the 
london tokyo and boston 
offices of bain  company 
murray held a number of 
senior positions in the 
restaurant industry and also 
led an internet startup
jonathan milner
phd
appointment april 1998
experience jonathan gained 
his doctorate in molecular 
genetics at leicester university 
after graduating in applied 
biology at bath from 1992 to 
1995 he was a postdoctoral 
researcher at bath following 
which he worked at the 
university of cambridge 
in the lab of professor 
tony kouzarides studying 
cancer he identified the 
market opportunity for supplying 
highquality antibodies to 
support protein interaction 
studies and in 1998 founded 
abcam with david cleevely 
and professor t ony kouzarides 
jonathan is an experienced 
entrepreneur and investor and 
is passionate about supporting 
uk life science and hightech 
startups he has provided 
considerable investment and 
support to over 30 companies 
and has assisted three ipos 
in joining the aim market
external appointments 
jonathan is a nonexecutive 
director of horizon discovery 
plc and of frontier 
developments plc he is 
also chairman of axol 
bioscience ltd
alan hirzel
ms mba
appointment january 2014
experience alan has over 
20 years of global business 
and leadership experience 
prior to joining abcam he 
spent 14 years with leading 
management consultant 
bain  company most 
recently serving as head of 
the uk healthcare practice 
and head of its london office 
operations earlier in his career 
he led product innovation 
efforts for several brands at 
kraft foods alan has a bs 
in molecular biology an ms 
in bioprocessing and food 
science from cornell 
university and an mba from 
the johnson graduate school 
of business at cornell
external appointments 
alan is a nonexecutive 
director at the uk national 
citizen service trust
jim warwick
ma cantab
appointment 
november 2000
experience jim has an 
ma in computer science from 
the university of cambridge 
he joined abcam originally as 
technical director and took 
over operational management 
of the uk office as managing 
director in june 2004 
working on both cost saving 
and efficiency improvement 
projects in 2009 jim became 
chief operating officer with 
responsibility for overseeing 
the operational strategy 
of the group as a whole
external appointments 
from 1986 to 2003 jim 
worked for analysys limited 
a cambridgebased 
telecommunications 
consultancy heading up 
its it software and web 
development initiatives 
in 2014 he took up a 
nonexecutive position 
at quartix plc a transport 
telematics company 
jonathan milner 
chief executive officer until 8 september 2014  
deputy chairman
mike redmond 
chairman
murray hennessy 
nonexecutive director and chairmandesignate
jim warwick 
chief operating officer
alan hirzel 
chief marketing officer until 8 september 2014 
chief executive officer 39
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
jeff iliffe
aca
appointment 
november 2007 
experience jeff is a 
chartered accountant who 
was appointed as abcam’s 
chief financial officer after 
previously working for the 
company as a financial 
consultant he has extensive 
experience of the city industry 
and internetbased business 
external appointments 
jeff was a corporate financier 
in life sciences at panmure 
gordon  co between 1989 
and 1996 he then moved into 
industry holding a number of 
financial positions at companies 
including the environmental 
consultancy enviros group 
limited and plethora 
solutions plc prior to joining 
abcam he was chief financial 
officer at the ecommerce 
company st minver ltd 
jeff is also a nonexecutive 
director of treatt plc and a 
trustee of the cambridge 
arts theatre
peter keen
aca
appointment october 2005 
experience peter joined 
abcam in 2005 prior to the 
company’s ipo and is a 
chartered accountant with 
30 years’ experience in the 
financing and management 
of private and public 
biotechnology companies 
after nine years on the board 
he will not be seeking 
reelection at the forthcoming 
agm in november
external appointments 
peter is chief executive of the 
venture capital firm cambridge 
innovation capital plc and is a 
nonexecutive director of the 
biotech growth trust plc and 
mrc technology ltd he was 
a cofounder and finance 
director of chiroscience 
group plc and chief financial 
officer of arakis ltd until its 
successful trade sale in 2005 
peter also helped establish 
and was uk managing 
director of merlin biosciences
louise patten
ma oxon
appointment march 2014
experience louise has 
extensive board level and 
corporate governance 
experience having served 
on quoted company boards 
for more than 20 years as 
a nonexecutive director 
senior independent director 
remuneration committee 
chairman and company 
chairman at businesses 
including the retailer 
marks  spencer plc retailing 
group gus plc and hotelier 
hilton group plc louise will be 
appointed senior independent 
director following the 
forthcoming agm
external appointments 
louise is currently a 
nonexecutive director of 
the ftse100 property group 
intu properties plc and is 
also a senior advisor to 
bain  company
anthony martin
phd
appointment 
september 2011
experience anthony has 
more than 25 years’ experience 
in the life science industry 
within the uk and usa in both 
executive and nonexecutive 
roles he has a doctorate 
in immunology from the 
university of manchester 
medical school
external appointments 
anthony is currently 
nonexecutive chairman of 
immunodiagnostics systems 
holdings plc sphere 
medical holding plc and 
phicotherapeutics ltd 
and nonexecutive director 
of orthofix international 
nv he has been chief 
executive officer of british 
biotechnology products 
azur environmental 
and molecular probes inc 
anthony’s previous 
nonexecutive appointments 
include preludetrust plc 
neutec pharma plc 
and molecular insight 
pharmaceuticals inc 
he has also served on the 
boards of invitrogen corporation 
and agilent technologies
michael ross
ma cantab
appointment 
november 2011
experience michael is an 
ecommerce executive and 
advisor with a high level 
of technical expertise
external appointments 
he cofounded orderdynamics 
previously ecommera in 2006 
an ecommerce technology 
and advisory business where 
he is an executive director 
he is currently a nonexecutive 
director of wex photographic 
and also acts as an 
ecommerce advisor to a 
number of other businesses 
after working at mckinsey  
company from 1994 to 1999 
michael cofounded the online 
retailer figleavescom in 1999 
where he was chief executive 
officer until 2006
peter keen 
nonexecutive and senior 
independent director
jeff iliffe 
chief financial officer and company secretary
michael ross 
nonexecutive director
anthony martin 
nonexecutive director
louise patten 
nonexecutive director
alan hirzel 
chief marketing officer until 8 september 2014 
chief executive officer 40
abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
mark bushfield
phd
experience mark joined 
abcam in 2008 as scientific 
director and is responsible for 
rd product development 
and manufacturing and 
scientific business development 
he is a biologist with over 
20 years’ research and 
management experience 
in academia pharmaceuticals 
and biotechnology prior to 
joining abcam mark trained 
in cellular signalling and then 
worked for pfizer before 
cofounding cambridge drug 
discovery ltd cdd after 
successfully integrating cdd 
into biofocus mark joined 
celltech as research director 
and then became vp research 
at ucbcelltech he has 
coauthored over 30 peer 
reviewed scientific papers and 
given over 40 presentations 
to scientific meetings 
and societies
philippe cotrel
phd
experience philippe 
joined abcam in 2008 as 
commercial director he has 
over 20 years’ experience in 
sales and marketing in the life 
science industry before joining 
abcam philippe worked for 
affymetrix where he was 
responsible for its european 
operations prior to that 
he held several commercial 
positions at amersham 
pharmacia now part of 
ge healthcare and oxford 
glycosciences he holds a 
postgraduate degree from 
institut pasteur paris 
and obtained a phd in 
biotechnologies from institut 
des sciences appliquées 
toulouse france philippe 
has responsibility for the 
group’s regional sales 
structure and activities 
pursuing business 
development opportunities 
and the management of our 
distributor and supplier bases 
as part of this he also has 
overall responsibility for our 
customer service and 
scientific support activities
ed ralph
phd
experience ed’s academic 
background is in molecular 
biology and he started 
developing websites in 1996 
joining abcam in 2000 he 
helped build the technology 
capabilities that have supported 
abcam’s rapid growth and 
previously served as abcam’s 
chief information officer cio 
ed is now responsible for the 
digital marketing team which 
includes ecommerce 
marketing communications 
and the research area content 
team he has also served on 
the council of advisors for 
red gate software and is 
currently a nonexecutive 
director at axol biosciences ltd 
a cambridge startup
danielle miller
phd
experience danielle joined 
abcam in 2001 and over the 
last 13 years has overseen 
the growth in logistics and 
inventory management 
capabilities championing 
investment in automated 
inventory storage solutions 
and optimising the split of 
inventory across abcam’s four 
logistics hubs in cambridge 
uk cambridge ma us 
shanghai and tokyo her role 
now involves overseeing 
health and safety and 
employee wellbeing and she 
is passionate about ensuring 
that our sites meet required 
global standards prior to 
joining abcam danielle worked 
as a strategic management 
consultant and holds a phd 
in plant virology and degree 
in natural sciences both from 
the university of cambridge
jane cooke
ma cipd
experience jane is an hr 
professional with over 25 
years’ experience in a range 
of sectors including learned 
and professional publishing 
and engineering her initial 
academic background was 
social policy with a particular 
interest in international 
comparisons jane joined 
abcam in 2005 and has 
supported the growth of the 
group from a people and 
organisational development 
perspective she has 
considerable international 
experience working across 
the uk us china hong kong 
and japan jane has focused 
on building a scalable 
people and organisational 
development function which 
is flexible and adaptable to 
abcam’s commercial needs 
she is passionate about 
abcam and its creative and 
talented staff around the world
mark bushfield 
scientific officer
ed ralph 
head of digital and brand marketing
philippe cotrel 
commercial director
senior leadership team slt
the slt comprises the heads of the main business functions within the group and meets bimonthly 
to discuss crossdepartmental matters each member reports to an executive director and is 
responsible for the daytoday operation of their function
jane cooke 
people and organisational 
development director 41
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
matthew roe
mba
experience matthew joined 
abcam in 2014 as head of 
reagents and is responsible 
for the global development 
and marketing of our core 
product ranges he has a bsc 
in biochemistry from brunel 
university london and an 
mba from university of 
warwick business school 
matthew has over 30 years’ 
industry experience and 
has held senior positions 
at crescendo biologics 
genzyme wyeth and glaxo 
his experience spans sales 
and marketing business 
strategy market and 
competitor analysis 
and business development 
and licensing
brian taylor
phd mba
experience brian joined 
abcam in 2014 as head 
of kits and assays he has 
over 20 years’ experience 
in marketing and business 
strategy specialising in life 
science research products 
and diagnostics brian has a 
strong technical and business 
background and holds a phd 
in biochemistry from the 
university of washington and 
an mba from the university 
of maryland prior to joining 
abcam brian worked for 
qiagen as the global director 
of strategic marketing and 
was president of growing 
company solutions inc 
a commercialisation 
consulting firm
kirstie speck
bs
experience kirstie joined 
abcam in 2014 as head 
of consumer insights 
responsible for the provision 
of highquality insight on our 
consumers and markets to 
drive business performance 
she has over 20 years’ market 
research experience working 
with healthcare professionals 
and consumers and has held 
a number of global insights 
roles across a variety of 
consumer product categories 
kirstie has previously 
managed consumer 
insights at glaxosmithkline 
kimberlyclark hill’s pet 
nutrition and nestle uk 
she holds a bachelor of 
business science marketing 
degree from the university of 
cape town
sean hickey
bsc
experience sean joined 
the slt on 1 september 2014 
as our chief information 
officer cio responsible 
for both the it and network 
infrastructure that supports 
our business as well as our 
programme of software 
application development 
sean has over 20 years 
of it experience with over 
15 years in senior management 
covering both infrastructure 
and applications he has 
worked in manufacturing 
fmcg health retail and 
utilities and has experience in 
the management of business 
process development and 
it teams on a global scale 
most recently he was 
it director for boots 
contract manufacturing
danielle miller 
operations director
matthew roe 
head of reagents
brian taylor 
head of kits and assays
kirstie speck 
head of consumer insights
sean hickey 
chief information officer 42
abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
regional manager s
each regional manager reports directly to a member of the slt they are responsible for the daily 
operational management of their respective entities ensuring the consistent implementation of 
abcam’s strategy across the whole group
nick lines
ba hons
experience nick is an expert 
in establishing and developing 
businesses in japan he has 
worked in international relations 
for the japanese government 
and has advised companies 
seeking to establish 
representative offices in japan 
through ukti at the british 
embassy in tokyo on joining 
abcam in 2006 nick’s first 
role was to establish the 
tokyo office and manage the 
expansion of a distribution 
model to a network of local 
subdealers nick is responsible 
for sales distribution and 
operations customer service 
scientific support and 
logistics in the japanese 
market he holds a degree 
in japanese and east asian 
studies from the university 
of leeds and has lived and 
worked in japan since 1999 
nick also acted as interpreter 
for the football association 
and several england players 
during the 2002 world cup 
in japan
bill campbell
phd
experience bill joined 
abcam in april 2005 in the 
scientific support department 
he took on responsibility for 
us operations in 2007 and 
became general manager 
in february 2012 he is 
responsible for sales 
distribution and operations 
in the americas as well as 
the daytoday running of the 
cambridge us office prior to 
joining abcam bill received 
his phd in biology from brown 
university where he studied 
proteins involved in cancer 
he also completed a four year 
postdoctorate at harvard 
medical school studying 
proteins involved in 
alzheimer’s disease and 
has authored or coauthored 
16 scientific publications
peter lee
mba
experience peter joined 
abcam in 2009 to establish 
an office in hong kong to 
serve our asia pacific market 
he has a degree in applied 
biology has an mphil in 
biochemistry and holds an 
mba peter has over 19 years’ 
experience in the life sciences 
market in both direct and 
channel sales within the asia 
pacific region in particular he 
has spent 15 years focusing on 
the china market specifically 
in the consumables and 
capital equipment markets 
his previous experience was 
gained through senior roles 
at amersham amersham 
biosciences ge healthcare 
and biacore peter is 
responsible for sales 
distribution and operations 
for the asia pacific region
paul armstrong
bsc
experience paul joined 
abcam in 2014 as the 
general manager for emea 
he is responsible for sales 
customer services and 
scientific support for the 
emea region he has a bsc 
degree in biotechnology and 
marketing from the university 
of strathclyde and recently 
completed the advanced 
management development 
programme from cranfield 
school of management paul 
has over 20 years’ experience 
in sales and marketing in the 
pharma and biotech sector 
and has held a number of 
senior positions in leading 
global organisations including 
bioreliance safc 
biosciences millipore corp 
and life technologies 
jade zhang
ma
experience jade joined 
abcam in 2014 as general 
manager of our new office in 
shanghai china she has a 
degree in zoology and a 
master’s degree in physiology 
from sun yatsen university 
jade has 15 years’ business 
marketing and sales experience 
in the life sciences sector and 
has previously worked as the 
senior sales and marketing 
manager for cell signaling 
technology and held various 
managerial positions at bd 
biosciences jade is 
responsible for the development 
of sales operations and 
distribution channels for 
the chinese market
bill campbell 
us general manager
nick lines 
japan general manager
paul armstrong 
emea general manager
peter lee 
hong kong general manager
jade zhang 
china general manager 43
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
corporate governance statement
the operation of the board
leadership operation of our board 
the board holds full meetings every month 
with attendance required in person one 
month and via conference call the next 
month in addition ad hoc meetings may 
be called to discuss urgent pertinent issues 
arising during the course of the year or to 
approve the annual and interim accounts 
and dividends
the board has a policy to set out 
which matters are reserved for the 
decision of the board and those to 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 is required to be 
taken by the whole board matters that the 
board considers are suitable for delegation 
to a board committee are contained within 
each committee’s terms of reference which 
are available on the company’s investor 
relations website wwwabcamplccom
the board delegates daytoday responsibility 
for enacting its strategic and managerial 
decisions to the executive directors and 
to its committees details of which are 
set out on the following pages 
the executive directors are responsible 
for the delivery of the budget within the 
strategic framework approved by the 
board in particular they are responsible 
for ensuring that the group’s budget and 
forecasts are prepared properly and in 
timely manner to aid the board they meet 
formally each week but also on an ad 
hoc basis in order to make the principal 
managerial decisions for the operation 
of the business
the slt is responsible to the executive 
directors for the daytoday management 
of the business within their own functional 
area the slt meet on a biweekly basis 
to discuss crossdepartmental matters 
in order to assist the executive directors 
in their making of managerial decisions 
the regional managers of each of the regional 
offices are responsible for the daily operational 
management of their respective entities 
and each report into a member of the slt 
ensuring a consistent implementation of 
abcam’s strategy across the business 
brief biographies and responsibilities of the 
regional managers are set out on page 42
the roles of chairman and chief executive 
officer are vested in separate individuals 
each with clear allocation of accountability 
and responsibility
the main responsibilities of the 
chairman include
  leading of the board and creating 
the conditions for overall board and 
individual director effectiveness and 
a constructive relationship with good 
communication between the executive 
and nonexecutive directors
  ensuring that the board as a whole 
plays a full and constructive part in the 
development of strategy and overall 
commercial objectives
  ensuring that there is effective 
communication with shareholders
  promoting the highest standards of integrity 
probity and corporate governance 
throughout the company particularly 
at board level and
  ensuring that the performance of the 
board as a whole its committees and 
individual directors is formally and rigorously 
evaluated at least once a year
the main responsibilities of the 
chief executive officer include
  proposing and developing the company’s 
longterm strategy and overall commercial 
objectives to ensure the company’s 
position remains differentiated
  ensuring initiatives for longterm growth 
are appropriately championed and 
resourced within the company in the 
short term 
  managing the executive directors and 
communicating the company’s strategy 
to the slt 
  leading the communication programme 
with shareholders and analysts and
  fostering good relationships with 
key stakeholders
peter keen acts as the senior independent 
director in which capacity he provides 
a communication channel between the 
chairman and the nonexecutive directors 
and is available to discuss matters with 
shareholders when required he will be 
succeeded in this role after the forthcoming 
agm by louise patten
the directors have the benefit of directors’ 
and officers’ liability insurance and have 
access to the advice of the company 
secretary who acts as secretary to all 
of the board committees
the board agenda
the board agenda focuses on the themes 
of driving our strategy monitoring risk 
and execution against the strategy via 
regular business financial and 
departmental updates
the chairman meets with the 
executive directors prior to scheduled 
and ad hoc meetings to discuss and 
set each board agenda
the culture of our board meetings is 
to encourage rigorous debate the 
nonexecutive directors constructively 
challenge the performance of management 
in meeting agreed goals and objectives 
and help develop proposals on strategy 
there is an opportunity for more informal 
and extended discussions on strategy 
during bimonthly offsite board discussions
effectiveness
how do we make sure our board 
is effective
we have considered the overall balance 
between executive and nonexecutive 
directors and believe that the structure 
of the board and the integrity of each 
director ensure that no one individual 
or group dominates the decision making 
process the board reflects a good 
balance between financial sector specific 
and general business skills with a highly 
experienced team leading the business in 
both executive and nonexecutive roles
the board is regularly updated with 
information concerning the state of the 
business and its performance in a timely 
manner in a form and of a quality 
appropriate to enable it to discharge 
its duties nonexecutive directors have 
the opportunity to influence agendas for 
board discussions and to ensure the amount 
of time spent reviewing strategic and 
operational issues is appropriately balanced
in the event that directors are unable to attend 
a meeting or a conference call they have 
the opportunity to relay their comments 
and if necessary to follow up with the 
chairman or the chief executive officer 
after the meeting 44
abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
effectiveness continued
director induction programme 
and ongoing training
on appointment to the abcam board 
new directors receive a comprehensive 
and tailored induction programme the 
aim of which is to introduce them to key 
management and personnel across the 
business and to enhance their knowledge 
and understanding of the group and its 
activities this includes time with each of the 
executive directors and a wide range of 
senior management from across the business
the group has a commitment to training and 
all directors executive or nonexecutive 
are encouraged to attend suitable training 
courses at the group’s expense regular 
updates on corporate governance are also 
provided to the board by the group’ s advisors
director independence
in order to assist in securing the 
recruitment and retention of highcalibre 
nonexecutive directors prior to the flotation 
of the company in 2005 the company 
granted options to nonexecutive directors 
to acquire shares in the company in addition 
to fees in the period since listing on aim no 
equitybased incentives have been granted 
to nonexecutive directors the board 
considers mike redmond murray hennessy 
peter keen anthony martin louise patten 
and michael ross to be independent within 
the meaning of the code all directors 
maintain conflicts of interest declarations 
and any planned changes in their interests 
including directorships outside the group 
are notified to the board none of the 
relationships declared are considered to 
be of a material nature to abcam’s business 
and none are therefore deemed to impact 
on the independence of the directors 
while the obligation to notify the company 
is immediate the updated conflicts register 
is formally reviewed at board meetings 
on alternate months
the beneficial interests of the nonexecutive 
directors in the share capital of the company 
which are set out on page 63 do not in 
the opinion of the board detract from their 
independent status
performance evaluation
the board undertakes a regular evaluation of 
its own performance and the last review was 
undertaken during the year this concluded 
that the board and its individual members 
continue to perform effectively in an 
environment where there is constructive 
challenge from the nonexecutive directors 
and operates within a framework of sound 
governance and practices which are 
consistent with the principles set out 
in the code
subjects covered during the review include 
a general overview as to the operation of the 
board opinions on shareholder relationships 
views on the board’s input into strategy 
discussions governance and compliance 
risk management and succession planning 
the board culture and relationships with 
senior management as well as how new 
members are selected and inducted
the chairman holds meetings with 
the nonexecutive directors without the 
executive directors present and the 
nonexecutive directors led by the 
senior independent director meet without 
the chairman present at least annually 
to appraise the chairman’s performance 
with no issues arising from the review 
performed this year
accountability
what is our approach to 
risk management
the board acknowledges its responsibility 
for safeguarding the shareholders’ investment 
and the group’s assets and has established 
a continuous process for identifying 
evaluating and managing the significant 
risks which the group faces 
the board has overall responsibility for 
ensuring the group maintains an adequate 
system of internal control and risk 
management while the audit committee 
reviews its effectiveness on behalf of the 
board the implementation of internal 
control systems is the responsibility 
of management 
we have implemented an internal control 
system designed to help ensure
  the effective and efficient operation of 
the group by enabling management to 
respond appropriately to significant risks to 
achieving the group’ s business objectives
  the safeguarding of assets from 
inappropriate use or from loss and 
fraud and ensuring that liabilities are 
identified and managed
  compliance with applicable laws and 
regulations and with internal policies on 
the conduct of the group’ s business and
  the ability to recover in a timely manner 
from the effects of disasters or major 
accidents which originate outside the 
group’s direct control
our risk management process involves 
the following steps
  risk identification risks are highlighted 
and documented in a centrally managed 
risk register
  risk assessment risks are assessed in 
terms of likelihood of occurrence and 
potential impact on the group and
  risk mitigation required actions are agreed 
and assigned with target deadlines
the risk register and mitigating actions are 
reviewed by the board on a biannual basis 
and by management as matters arise 
such a system is designed to manage 
rather than eliminate the risks inherent in 
a fastmoving business and can therefore 
provide only reasonable and not absolute 
assurance against material misstatement 
or loss
the principal risks and uncertainties we 
have identified are set out on pages 24 
to 28 it is recognised that the group is 
exposed to a number of risks wider than 
those listed however we have chosen 
to disclose those of most concern to the 
business at this moment in time and those 
that have been the subject of debate at 
recent board or audit committee meetings 
during the course of its reviews of the 
system of internal control during the year 
the board has not identified nor been 
advised of any failings or weaknesses 
which it has determined to be significant
while the group does not currently have a 
separate internal audit function an internal 
controls committee consisting of key 
members of the finance and it teams 
meets on a regular basis with other 
operational managers attending where 
necessary a rolling internal audit of key 
processes has been implemented and is 
carried out by members of the finance team 
the results are reviewed by the internal 
controls committee and reported to the 
audit committee and the necessary 
actions taken to rectify any control 
deficiencies identified
the audit committee reviews the need 
for a separate internal audit function on 
an annual basis and has concluded that 
despite the rate of growth in recent years 
the structure of the group and the level of 
control exercised by the management team 
are currently sufficient such that an internal 
audit function is not necessary at present 
the committee can however envisage 
circumstances in the near future where 
such a function could be justified and will 
keep the matter under regular review
financial reporting
the board is responsible for reviewing 
and approving the annual report and 
accounts the interim financial information 
and for ensuring they present a balanced 
assessment of the group’s position drafts 
of these reports are provided to the board 
in a timely manner and directors’ feedback 
is discussed and incorporated where 
appropriate prior to publication
corporate governance statement continued 45
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
accountability continued
financial reporting continued
in addition the board ensures controls 
over the financial reporting process and 
preparation of the consolidated accounts 
consist of extensive reviews by qualified 
and experienced individuals to ensure that 
all elements of the financial statements and 
appropriate disclosure are considered 
and accurately stated
whistleblowing procedures
the group operates a whistleblowing 
policy which provides for all employees 
to raise concerns to senior management 
in strict confidence about any unethical 
business practices fraud misconduct or 
wrongdoing they can do so without fear 
of recrimination and the audit committee 
receives any such confidential reports 
there were no whistleblowing reports 
throughout 201314 and none up to 
the date of this report
relations with shareholders
dialogue with institutional 
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 brokers and 
public relations advisors make themselves 
available and expect to meet with 
shareholders at least twice a year 
where appropriate the company consults 
with major shareholders on significant issues
members of the board develop an 
understanding of the views of major 
shareholders through any direct contact 
that may be initiated by shareholders 
shareholder feedback presented by the 
chief executive officer and chief financial 
officer following each analyst and investor 
roadshow or through analysts’ and brokers’ 
briefings we also regularly host investor 
meetings at our cambridge uk office
in addition following investment analyst 
meetings and investor roadshows our 
financial public relations advisors consult 
such analysts and our corporate brokers 
gather investor feedback which each relays 
to the board numis securities limited 
remains as the company’s nominated 
advisor financial advisor and joint broker 
peel hunt llp remains as joint broker 
with numis securities limited 
constructive use of the agm
the board actively encourages the 
participation of all directors in the agm 
which is the principal forum for dialogue 
with shareholders a presentation is made 
outlining recent developments in the 
business and an open question and answer 
session follows to enable shareholders to 
ask about the business in general
board meeting attendance
scheduled board meetings ad hoc meetings
meetings
attended
total 
available 
meetings
meetings
attended
total 
available 
meetings
chairman mike redmond 12 12 6 6
chief executive jonathan milner 12 12 6 6
executive 
directors
alan hirzel
1
6 6 2 2
jeff iliffe 12 12 6 6
jim warwick 12 12 6 6
nonexecutive 
directors
murray hennessy 9 12 6 6
peter keen 12 12 6 6
anthony martin 11 12 5 6
louise patten
2
4 4 — —
michael ross 10 12 4 6
1 appointed to the board 30 january 2014 
2 appointed to the board 27 march 2014
board committees
summary of committee membership
name
audit 
committee
remuneration 
committee
nomination 
committee
mike redmond no no chairman
murray hennessy yes yes no
peter keen chairman no
1
yes
anthony martin yes yes no
louise patten yes
2
chairman
2
yes
2
michael ross no
3
no yes
1 peter keen retired from the remuneration committee on 27 march 2014 
2 louise patten was appointed to each of the committees on 27 march 2014 
3 michael ross retired from the audit committee on 22 may 2014
summary of committee meeting attendance in 201314
name
audit 
committee
remuneration 
committee
nomination 
committee
number of meetings held 3 4 4
mike redmond na na 4 4
murray hennessy 3 3 4 4 na
peter keen 3 3 3 3 4 4
anthony martin 3 3 4 4 na
louise patten 1 1 1 1 0 0
michael ross 0 2 na 3 4
figures in brackets denote the maximum number of meetings that could have 
been attended 46
abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
audit committee
role of the committee
the primary responsibilities of the 
committee are to
  monitor the integrity of the financial 
statements of the group and any formal 
announcements relating to the group’s 
financial performance and review significant 
financial reporting judgements contained 
therein before they are submitted to the 
board for final approval
  where requested by the board 
to consider whether in its view the 
annual report taken as a whole is 
fair balanced and understandable 
and provides the information necessary 
for shareholders to assess a group’s 
performance business model and 
strategy the ultimate judgement 
on which is decided by the board
  review the effectiveness of the group’s 
financial reporting and the internal 
control and risk management policies 
and systems
  review annually the need for an internal 
audit function
  make recommendations to the board 
for a resolution to be put to shareholders 
for their approval in general meeting on 
the appointment of the external auditor 
and the approval of its remuneration and 
terms of engagement
  review and monitor the external auditor’s 
independence and objectivity and the 
effectiveness of the audit process taking 
into consideration relevant uk professional 
and regulatory requirements
  develop and implement a policy on 
the engagement of the external auditor 
to supply nonaudit services taking into 
account relevant guidance regarding 
the provision of nonaudit services by 
the external audit firm and
  review the arrangements by which staff 
may in confidence raise concerns about 
possible improprieties
i am pleased to present the audit committee’ s 
report describing our work during the 
past year 
we have considered the provisions of the new 
uk corporate governance code and the 
frc guidance on audit committees and 
expanded our report to provide more detail 
on the significant issues considered by 
the committee in relation to the financial 
statements and on how these issues 
were addressed
committee composition
details of the audit committee membership in 
the year and the number of audit committee 
meetings attended are given on page 45 
the committee meetings are also attended 
by invitation by other members of the board 
the group financial controller and senior 
representatives of the external auditor in 
order to ensure that all the information required 
by the audit committee for it to operate 
effectively is available representatives of 
the group’s external auditor meet with the 
audit committee at least twice a year 
without any executive directors or other 
company management being present
the audit committee is required to 
include one financially qualified member 
as recognised by the consultative 
committee of accountancy bodies 
and i currently fulfil this requirement i am 
deemed by the board to have recent and 
relevant financial experience as a qualified 
chartered accountant with more than 
30 years’ experience in the financing and 
management of technology companies 
with a particular focus in life sciences
the committee’s key objectives are 
the provision of effective financial 
governance and assistance to 
the board in ensuring the integrity 
of the group’s financial reporting 
the committee oversees the 
external audit process and reviews 
the group’s risk management 
framework the effectiveness of 
its risk management processes 
and the system of internal control
peter keen
audit committee chairman 47
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
review of financial statements and audit findings
the committee reviewed the full and half year financial statements and the report of the 
auditor on these statements the audit partner responsible for the abcam audit attends 
the committee meetings to present their reports and answer questions from committee 
members senior pricewaterhousecoopers pwc staff who have had daytoday 
involvement in the conduct of the audit also attend
significant matters that were considered by the committee included the following issues 
which were also areas of focus for the external auditor who reported on these topics to 
the committee
issue assessment
inventory valuation for inhouse 
manufactured items
inventory manufactured inhouse is 
valued using a standard cost approach 
on a firstin firstout basis as part of the 
standard costing an element of overheads 
is allocated into the inventory valuation 
the committee discussed the calculation 
methodologies with management and 
also reviewed the report from the auditor 
on the results of its testing
inventory provisioning the calculation of the inventory provision 
includes a degree of judgement of the 
likelihood that individual products may not 
be sold at some point in the future at a 
value equivalent to or greater than cost 
the committee’s review included an 
assessment of the reasonableness of 
future sales forecasts which are based 
on actual sales patterns in previous years 
and the shelf life of those products on 
average product shelf life is estimated 
to be nine years the committee also 
considered the overall provision as a 
percentage of the gross inventory balance
impairment of goodwill and other 
intangible assets
the carrying value is based on 
judgements about the achievability 
of business plans the committee 
addressed this matter by reviewing 
the assumptions underlying 
these judgements
the committee considered the legislative changes that impact the group 201314 
financial statements relating to narrative reporting in particular the remuneration report 
the requirements of the changes were reviewed and planned and actions were agreed 
and taken to successfully implement the required modifications
external auditor competitive tender
in accordance with the principles of good 
governance contained in the code the 
committee seeks to ensure the continued 
independence and objectivity of the group’s 
external auditor the committee also 
recognises that it needs to ensure that 
the group observes due process from 
a corporate governance standpoint in 
its appointment consequently at the 
committee’s recommendation a tender 
process in respect of the group’s audit and 
taxation advisory and compliance services 
for the year ended 30 june 2014 was 
undertaken while the audit engagement 
partner had been rotated in line with 
guidelines from the auditing practices board 
deloitte llp had been the auditor of the 
company since its formation in 1998 
the tender process enabled the committee 
to benchmark the level of service fees 
and value being delivered by deloitte llp 
and provided a range of insight and advice 
from other advisors
following a screening process three firms 
were invited to tender including the existing 
auditor following a comprehensive and 
thorough competitive tender process involving 
presentations from each of the firms to 
abcam’s cfo and financial management 
team and interviews conducted by the 
audit committee and company chairman 
the committee recommended the 
appointment of pwc as auditor for the year 
ended 30 june 2014 this proposal was 
subsequently approved by shareholders 
at the agm in november 2013 in order 
to provide additional independence the 
decision was taken to separately award 
the audit and tax advisory work and as a 
consequence ernst and young llp was 
appointed as the group’s tax advisor 48
abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
the independence and objectivity 
of the auditor is regularly considered by 
the committee taking into consideration 
relevant uk professional and regulatory 
requirements the committee receives an 
annual statement from the auditor detailing 
its independence policies and safeguards 
and confirming its independence taking 
into account relevant guidance regarding 
the provision of nonaudit services by 
the external auditor
note 7 to the consolidated financial 
statements includes disclosures of the 
auditor’ s remuneration for the year including 
an analysis of audit services auditrelated 
services and other nonaudit services 
under those headings prescribed by law 
the committee monitors the level of nonaudit 
fees in relation to the audit fee for its bearing 
on external auditor independence
other nonaudit fees were paid to pwc 
during the year mainly in respect of its 
review of the company’s interim results 
report to shareholders and the amendments 
made to the ltip rules which were approved 
by shareholders at the 2013 agm t aking into 
account the low quantum of fees paid for 
these nonaudit services the committee 
does not feel auditor independence has 
been impeded
internal audit
abcam does not currently have a 
formal internal audit function however 
the committee continues to remain focused 
on the audit assurance and risk management 
processes within the business an internal 
controls committee consisting of key 
members of the finance and it teams meets 
on a regular basis with other operational 
managers attending where necessary 
in addition a rolling programme of auditing 
key processes has been implemented and 
is carried out by members of the finance 
team involving visits to all worldwide locations 
across the group the results are reviewed by 
the internal controls committee and reported 
to the audit committee where necessary 
actions are taken to rectify any control 
deficiencies identified
the committee received reports from 
the internal controls committee on the 
internal reviews carried out in the year of 
the operations in burlingame hong kong 
and tokyo which highlighted no significant 
control failings
having reviewed these arrangements the 
committee has concluded that despite the 
rate of growth in recent years the structure 
of the group and the level of control exercised 
by the management team means that 
the establishment of a formal internal audit 
function is not necessary at present 
the committee can however envisage 
circumstances in the near future where such 
a function could be justified and therefore 
this will be subject to regular review we 
intend to continue the debate around risk 
tolerance and appetite to ensure the board 
maintains sound risk management and 
internal controls
peter keen 
audit committee chairman
8 september 2014
assessment of auditor
each year the committee is required 
to assess the qualifications expertise 
resources and independence of the external 
auditor and the objectivity and effectiveness 
of the audit process this year’ s assessment 
began with the audit tender process referred 
to above and the auditor’s performance 
during the audit was assessed against 
the following criteria
  delivery of a thorough and efficient global 
audit in compliance with agreed plan 
and timescales
  provision of accurate robust and 
perceptive advice on key accounting 
and audit judgements technical issues 
and best practice
  a high level of professionalism and technical 
expertise consistently demonstrated by 
all audit staff
  maintenance of continuity within the core 
audit team and
  strict adherence to independence policies 
and other regulatory requirements
the committee was able to conclude 
that the independence and objectivity 
of the auditor and the effectiveness 
of the audit process are safeguarded 
and remain strong
other services provided by the 
external auditor
our policy is to ensure we appoint the 
advisor who we believe is in the position 
to best advise the company on the particular 
matter in question auditor objectivity 
and independence is safeguarded by the 
committee via the monitoring of fees paid 
to the auditor in respect of both audit and 
nonaudit work and approving all additional 
work performed by the external auditor 
audit committee continued 49
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
nomination committee
board appointments 
in the year
the process adopted by the committee 
to identify a candidate for a specific vacancy 
is in the first instance to determine whether 
any individuals known to the board would 
be suitable for the role if no candidates can 
be identified through this process or if the 
committee believes that the process would 
be improved by the involvement of other 
candidates then an independent external 
search consultancy will be approached 
shortlisted candidates are interviewed by 
all members of the committee and other 
executive and nonexecutive directors as 
the committee deems appropriate once a 
suitable candidate has been identified and 
references taken the chairman of the 
committee will recommend to the board 
that the company make a formal offer of 
employment to the candidate following 
appointment a tailored induction programme 
is put in place to ensure the new director 
rapidly gains the necessary knowledge to 
discharge his or her duties
as announced today with immediate 
effect alan hirzel is taking on the role of 
chief executive officer from jonathan milner 
who moves to a new role of deputy chairman 
jonathan will continue to play an active role 
in the company in the identification of 
technological developments in the market 
and the identification of partnership and 
acquisition targets
discussions on succession planning 
for the ceo role had been ongoing 
between jonathan and me for some years 
and when the requirement to appoint a 
chief marketing officer was identified last 
year a recruitment process was undertaken 
for a candidate with the potential to assume 
the role of ceo at some time in the future
key responsibilities 
of the committee
in addition to leading the process for board 
appointments and making recommendations 
to the board in relation to new appointments 
the committee’s general responsibilities 
include reviewing succession planning 
board composition and balance and 
considering the roles and capabilities 
required for each new appointment based 
on an evaluation of the skills experience 
independence and knowledge of the 
existing directors
board composition
the committee keeps the membership 
of the board under review to ensure that 
it has the required combination of skills 
knowledge and experience the board 
fully appreciates the benefits of diversity 
including gender and is committed to 
equal opportunities for all in selecting 
candidates for board appointments the 
committee assesses the then current 
composition of the board and takes this 
into account in devising the requirement 
specification for the recruitment selection 
for board appointments is made on merit 
against this specification and not by 
reference to a prescribed quota
as described in more detail below 
louise patten was appointed to the 
board and we are already enjoying 
the fresh perspective she brings to 
board discussions
the posts of people and organisational 
development director operations director 
and head of consumer insights are all 
held by women these are not main 
board appointments but form part of the 
next tier of management below the board 
the holders of these posts sit on the 
senior leadership team and comprise 
onethird of its membership
it is the nomination committee’s role 
to regularly review the composition 
of the board as the company 
evolves to ensure that it is has 
the necessary skills knowledge 
and experience since the end 
of the last financial year a number 
of board appointments have been 
made on the recommendation 
of the committee which we 
are confident will each play a 
significant role in the achievement 
of our growth objectives
mike redmond
nomination committee chairman 50
abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
board appointments 
in the year continued
alan hirzel was subsequently appointed in 
august 2013 after a period of performance 
evaluation working closely with jonathan 
in planning and implementing our growth 
strategy it became clear that he had the 
attributes we had hoped for and that his 
skills energy and experience were exactly 
in line with the group’s requirements
with this in mind it was decided earlier in the 
year to more actively consider the timing and 
opportunity for ceo succession this began 
the process of reviewing the requirements 
for the role and having had exposure to alan 
particularly since he joined the board in 
january this year led to the committee 
strongly recommending him as ceo 
successor following further consideration 
by the rest of the board excluding 
jonathan and alan this recommendation 
was unanimously accepted
during the year peter keen notified the 
committee of his wish to relinquish the role 
of chair of the remuneration committee 
in view of the increasing external pressures 
on his time the committee was therefore 
charged with identifying a replacement 
for this role a candidate with extensive 
experience of the issues surrounding 
remuneration in a public company as part 
of the recruitment process outlined above 
after consultation with board colleagues 
louise patten was identified as a possible 
candidate and was subsequently approached 
and interviewed and her appointment was 
recommended to the board
louise brings extensive board level and 
corporate governance experience having 
served on quoted company boards for more 
than 20 years as a nonexecutive director 
senior independent director remuneration 
committee chair and company chair at 
businesses including the retailer 
marks  spencer plc retailing group 
gus plc and hotelier hilton group plc
our annual review of board performance 
covers succession planning and during 
recent reviews murray hennessy was 
identified as a likely candidate to succeed 
me as chairman given his excellent and 
relevant experience 
following my decision to step down from 
the role of chairman the choice of my 
successor was discussed at board level 
and after due deliberation the decision was 
taken to invite murray hennessy to take on 
the role of chairman following the next agm 
in line with best practice those discussions 
were led by the senior independent 
director and neither murray nor i were 
active participants
priorities for 201415
in line with best practice peter keen will 
be  stepping down from the board at the 
forthcoming agm after nine years and the 
committee will be leading the recruitment 
process for a successor as chair of the 
audit committee the board will ensure 
any successor has the appropriate financial 
expertise experience and diversity to 
complement our existing membership and 
maintain collectively an effective board
mike redmond 
nomination committee chairman
8 september 2014
nomination committee continued 51
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
remuneration report
basis of preparation
this report has been prepared in 
accordance with schedule 8 to the 
accounting regulations under the 
companies act 2006 the report also 
meets the relevant requirements of the 
listing rules of the financial conduct 
authority and describes how the board 
has applied the principles relating to 
directors’ remuneration in the 
uk corporate governance code 
although not required by the aim listing 
rules to provide all the information detailed 
in this report the directors have chosen 
to do so in accordance with best practice 
and in order to provide greater transparency 
to shareholders this includes the details 
of our policy on directors’ remuneration 
which will be put to an advisory vote at the 
2014 agm any changes to this policy in 
future will be put to a further advisory vote 
the annual report on remuneration will 
also be subject to an advisory vote at the 
forthcoming agm
the layout of this report reflects the new 
regulations which impact the presentation 
and disclosure of directors’ remuneration 
this report is therefore presented in two 
sections the directors’ remuneration policy 
which sets out the forwardlooking 
remuneration policy and the annual report 
on remuneration which provides details 
of the amounts earned in respect of the 
year ended 30 june 2014 and how the 
remuneration policy will be operated for 
the year commencing 1 july 2014 
remuneration philosophy
the remuneration committee’s policy is to 
attract and retain individuals of the highest 
calibre by offering remuneration competitive 
with comparable publicly listed companies 
and to drive group performance by providing 
arrangements which fairly and responsibly 
reward individuals for their contribution to the 
success of the group performancerelated 
bonuses and longterm equitybased 
remuneration linked to demanding targets 
represent a substantial proportion of 
executive directors’ potential remuneration 
which aligns the interests of the individuals 
with those of the shareholders although 
deferred share awards are presented as 
short term due to their performance 
conditions being over a oneyear period 
they must in fact be held for a further 
period of two years before vesting and 
the committee therefore considers them 
to be long term in nature
the policy components are 
summarised below
on behalf of the board i am 
pleased to present our directors’ 
remuneration report for the year 
ended 30 june 2014 which sets 
out our policy on pay benefits 
and incentives and the amounts 
earned by the directors during 
the year 
louise patten
remuneration committee chairman
fixed remuneration performancerelated remuneration
shortterm 
annual 
performance 
bonus
longterm 
deferred bonus 
ltipcsop
base salary
benefits
pension contribution
allemployee share plans 52
abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
remuneration for 201314
throughout the year the committee 
continued to apply the remuneration policy 
with a strong alignment to the interests 
of shareholders
as described in the strategic review 
201314 was a successful year for abcam 
and consequently amounts equivalent to 
602 of base salary were earned by the 
executive directors under the eps 
performance measures of the annual 
bonus plan abp of this amount an 
equivalent of 201 of base salary will be 
deferred in shares for a further holding 
period of two years individual performance 
cash bonuses of 25 of base salary were 
also awarded to reflect the successful 
achievement of the relevant performance 
targets details of the total bonus amounts 
earned by individual directors are outlined 
within the annual report on remuneration 
details of the ltip awards for which 
performance conditions were tested 
in the period are as follows
  annualised compounded eps growth 
over the threeyear performance period 
ended 30 june 2014 was 95 against 
a minimum target of 15 therefore 
none of the awards granted under the 
ltip on 1 november 2011 will vest on 
1 november 2014
  total shareholder return tsr over the 
threeyear performance period ended on 
2 december 2013 was 31 which fell 
below the median of the comparator group 
as a result none of the tsr awards 
granted under the ltip in december 2010 
vested in december 2013
as reported last year adjustments were 
made to executive director salaries for 
201314 to bring them in line with their 
respective market median levels as 
determined from the review which 
was undertaken in 2010
further details regarding base salary 
increases bonus payments and the vesting 
of ltip awards made to the executive 
directors are set out in the annual report 
on remuneration
key remuneration decisions 
for 201415
during the coming year the committee 
will continue to seek to ensure that the 
remuneration of executive directors 
as well as the wider senior management 
is sufficient to attract retain and motivate 
quality individuals the key decisions made 
by the committee for 201415 include
  for 201415 base salary increases for 
executive directors are 20 which is 
in line with cost of living increases for 
ukbased employees
  the salary for alan hirzel in his new role 
as ceo will be £320000 which is set at 
a lower level than that for jonathan milner
  while keeping the overall incentive 
structure for 201415 unchanged we 
have introduced some additional metrics 
to our annual bonus plan to make it 
more aligned to our growth strategy 
  we have also simplified the way in which 
the deferred bonus operates we have 
reviewed and updated our director 
service contracts to ensure that they 
are appropriately structured
  the key changes made are the 
extension of the length of notice period 
from six months to twelve months 
to support retention and minimise any 
potential disruption to the business as 
well as the introduction of provisions 
relating to phasing and mitigation
during the year we will also be reviewing 
the existing remuneration structure for 
executive directors and other senior staff 
to ensure best alignment with our growth 
strategy and the promotion of share 
ownership any significant changes will 
be discussed with major shareholders 
in advance
committee chairman succession
i was delighted to join the board in 
march 2014 and take over as chairman 
of the remuneration committee from 
peter keen our senior independent 
director i am very pleased to be working 
with my new colleagues to ensure that our 
remuneration strategy helps to drive the 
successful longterm growth of the group
louise patten
remuneration committee chairman
8 september 2014
remuneration report continued 53
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
this section sets out the policy which will be put to an advisory shareholder vote at the agm on 3 november 2014 the policy will apply 
to any remuneration and loss of office payments made on or after 3 november 2014
future policy table
salary for executive directors
purpose and link to strategy to provide an appropriately competitive level of base salary in order to enable the group to recruit retain and motivate 
executive directors of the calibre required to achieve the group’s business strategy and objectives
to reflect the individual’s skills experience and role within the group
operation base salaries are paid monthly in cash and are reviewed annually with increases applying from july in each year 
although an outofcycle review may be conducted if the committee determines appropriate a review will not 
necessarily lead to an increase in salary
when determining salaries the committee typically takes into account
  business performance
  individual performance skills experience and potential
  external market conditions
  salary levels at companies of a similar size industry global scope and complexity to abcam plc and
  the pay and conditions of employees elsewhere in the group
maximum opportunity while there is no maximum salary increases will typically be in line with the general level of increase awarded to other 
employees in the group
higher increases may be made at the committee’s discretion for reasons including but not limited to
  increase in the scope andor responsibility of the individual’s role
  realignment to market level
  development of the individual within the role andor
  where a larger increase is considered necessary for the retention of an executive director
salary levels for the year ending 30 june 2015 are shown on page 58
performance measures no specific performance measures are used although the overall performance of each executive director 
is considered by the committee when reviewing base salaries
benefits for executive directors
purpose and link to strategy to provide competitive benefits in line with market practice to enable the group to recruit and retain highcalibre 
executive directors
to support personal health and wellbeing
participation in the company’s share incentive plan sip encourages share ownership and alignment with the 
wider workforce
operation the executive directors are provided with core benefits of life insurance cover up to five times’ base salary 
family private medical cover and annual health screening
the company contributes a percentage of base salary into a flexible benefitssalary sacrifice scheme which allows 
the director to choose a variety of benefits to suit individual needs such as
  additional life assurance
  critical illness cover
  dental insurance
  travel insurance
  cycle to work scheme
  childcare vouchers
  additional holidays and
  pension contributions
other benefit may be provided if the committee considers it appropriate expenses incurred in the performance 
of duties may be reimbursed or paid for directly including any tax due on expenses
situationspecific taxable benefits may be provided as may be required in the interests of the group’s business 
such as but not limited to housing or relocation allowances travel allowance or other expatriate benefits
executive directors are eligible to participate on the same basis as other employees in the company’s  
hmrcapproved sip or any other allemployee share plan operated in the future
maximum opportunity reasonable market cost of providing benefits plus the employers’ national insurance ni saving on any salary sacrificed
participation by executive directors in the sip and any other allemployee share plan operated in the future is limited to 
the maximum award levels permitted by the relevant legislation
there is no overall maximum level of benefit
performance measures no performance measures
remuneration report continued
directors’ remuneration policy 54
abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
future policy table continued
pensions for executive directors
purpose and link to strategy to provide pension contributions in line with market practice which will enable directors to plan for retirement
operation the company contributes a percentage of base salary into a flexible benefitssalary sacrifice scheme as described 
above which allows the director to choose a variety of benefits including pension contributions
the director also has the option to sacrifice an element of base pay to purchase additional benefits as detailed above 
if as a result of any salary sacrificed the company’s ni liability is reduced the benefit of this reduction is added as a 
contribution to each director’s pension fund 
for those in excess of the pension lifetime allowance applicable in the uk the company’s contribution may be taken 
as a cash allowance subject to payroll deductions and the director meeting any employerrelated ni costs arising
maximum opportunity the current level of company contribution is 12 this may be amended from time to time in accordance 
with benchmarking reviews against current market practice there is no overall maximum percentage
performance measures no performance measures
annual incentive and deferred bonus for executive directors abp
purpose and link to strategy to incentivise executive directors to achieve performance objectives that are directly linked to both the group’s 
shortterm and longterm financial and strategic goals
the performance measures align to the strategy of the business and shareholder value creation
the deferred portion of the award aligns the longterm interests of the executive directors and shareholders 
and supports retention
operation an annual bonus of both cash and deferred shares may be awarded under abp 
the cash component of the annual bonus if earned is paid annually in cash after the audited preliminary 
announcement of results for that year end are signed off
deferred shares have a compulsory deferral of a further two years subject to continued employment within the group
bonus payments are not pensionable
the committee may reduce or cancel any unvested deferred share award or unexercised nilcost option in any of the 
following events
  a material adverse adjustment to the audited consolidated accounts of the company for any accounting period 
ending before the vesting of the deferred share award or
  fraud or other gross misconduct of the award holder
maximum opportunity 110 of base salary cash
40 of base salary deferred shares
performance measures targets for the bonus may be based on individual performance strategic priorities for the group and financial 
performance measures performance is assessed over one financial year
individual performance is measured through an assessment of comprehensive business deliverables personal 
performance and the achievement of specific individual objectives
financial performance targets are chosen carefully to ensure a strong link between reward and underlying group 
financial performance as an example these measures may typically include pbt or other measures as appropriate
strategic performance targets are carefully chosen to align with abcam’s stated strategy further details of the 
measures for 201415 are given on page 29
the exact measures weightings threshold vesting and targets are determined by the committee each year taking 
into account the group’s key strategic priorities and the approved budget for the year
where the committee is of the opinion that the group is facing severe cash flow restraints that threaten the group’s 
ability to fund its operations it can reduce the proportion of a cash award under the abp which is capable of vesting 
or determine that the cash award may be settled in plan shares in whole or in part
remuneration report continued
directors’ remuneration policy continued 55
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
longterm incentive plans for executive directors ltip
purpose and link to strategy to incentivise longterm value creation through the setting of stretching targets which ensure a strong link between 
reward underlying group financial performance and shareholder returns
to support recruitment and retention
operation annual nilcost options or conditional share awards normally at 50 of salary vesting at the end of a threeyear 
performance period
subject to statutory limits the first £30000 of value awarded under the ltip may be structured to be tax efficient using 
an hmrcapproved executive share option scheme this involves making a simultaneous award under the company 
share option plan csop
the committee may reduce or cancel any award that has not been released in the case of a material adverse 
adjustment to the audited consolidated accounts of the company for any accounting period ending before the 
release of the award or following fraud or other gross misconduct of the participant
maximum opportunity while the maximum award limit under the rules of the ltip is 150 of base salary awards for 201314 and 201415 
are currently 50 of salary
performance measures vesting of awards is based on specific financial or quantifiable performance measures against stretching targets over 
the vesting period
the vesting period is three years from the date of grant or such other period set by the committee in its discretion
the exact measures weightings threshold vesting and targets are determined by the committee each year taking into 
account the group’ s key strategic priorities the approved budget for the year and the group’ s longerterm financial outlook
nonexecutive directors’ ned and chairman’s fees
purpose and link to strategy to attract and retain an appropriately experienced chairman and independent neds of suitable calibre to fulfil a 
range of different roles including financial expertaudit committee chairman senior independent director and other 
committee chairmen
to pay fees that reflect responsibilities and workload undertaken and that are competitive with peer companies
operation ned fees consist of a base fee plus a fee for membership or chairmanship of each of the committees and for the 
senior independent director
ned fees are determined by the chairman of the board and the executive directors the chairman’s fee is proposed 
by the committee and approved by the board as a whole with the chairman taking no part in the decision
fees are reviewed on an annual basis and take account of fees paid for similar roles by peer companies and the skills 
and expected time commitment of the individual concerned an outofcycle review may be conducted if the committee 
determines appropriate
a portion of the fees may be delivered or paid by reference to a fixed number of company shares
expenses incurred in the performance of nonexecutive duties may be reimbursed or paid directly including any tax 
due on expenses 
the neds and the chairman are not eligible to receive bonuses or pension contributions and nor can they participate 
in the executive or allemployee equity plans
maximum opportunity fees are set at an appropriate level taking into account the factors outlined in this table 
any director who devotes special attention to the business of the group or otherwise performs services which 
in the opinion of the directors are outside the scope of the ordinary duties of a director may be paid additional 
fees to be determined by the committee 
performance measures none
malus applies where stated in the above 
table other elements of remuneration 
are not subject to recovery provisions 
references to base salary in the table 
above refer to base salary prior to any 
voluntary waiver
the remuneration committee believes that 
situations may arise when it would be in 
the company’s best interests for them to 
retain discretion on certain matters as to 
how the remuneration policy described 
above is applied these are as follows
  in determining that any annual incentive 
or deferred bonus awards should be 
reduced if it reasonably considers that 
there is a significant misalignment 
between the attainment of the performance 
targets and the underlying sustainable 
performance improvement of the company
  the committee retains the ability to adjust 
incentive performance targets in light of 
changes within abcam’s business such 
as acquisitions or divestitures and
  in the operation of the ltip the company 
in its absolute discretion and subject to 
any statutory prohibition may
  determine that the holding period from 
the date of grant to the vesting of an 
award be varied from the usual three 
year period applied by the company
future policy table continued 56
abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
  ltip and abp – in addition 
to participation in the ltip  key 
management team members below 
board level may receive some of their 
annual bonus in shares under the abp  
which must be deferred for a further two 
years the targets and deferral retention 
policies under both schemes are in line 
with the policy for executive directors 
other annual bonuses across the group 
are typically linked to local business and 
individual performance 
  allemployee share plans – an  
hmrcapproved sip is open to 
all uk eligible employees including 
executive directors on the same terms 
giving them the opportunity to become 
shareholders in the company currently 
over 230 employees participate in the 
sip and hold over 940000 shares
  a number of other share schemes are 
in place to incentivise employees across 
the group to enhance shareholder value 
and to allow them the opportunity to 
become shareholders in the company 
where possible for awards to vest these 
schemes have historically required 
outperformance of the ftse aim 
allshare index over two three or four 
years depending on the specific local 
rules in place for 201415 the targets 
will be amended to tie in with specific 
company performance 
approach to the recruitment and 
retention of executive directors
our philosophy for remuneration is 
to attract and retain leaders who are 
focused and encouraged to deliver 
business priorities within a framework 
that is aligned with the longterm interests 
of the company’s shareholders 
the following factors are taken into 
account when negotiating a new 
appointment to the board
  base salary – to be set based on 
relevant market data experience and 
skills of the individual internal relativities 
and their current base salary where new 
appointments have initial base salaries set 
below market the shortfall will normally 
be managed with phased increases over 
a period of two to three years subject to 
their development in the role for interim 
positions a cash supplement may be 
paid rather than salary
  bonus – the annual and deferred 
bonuses described in the table above 
will apply to a new appointee with the 
relevant maximum being prorated to 
reflect the proportion of employment over 
the year the committee may determine 
that for the first year of appointment the 
annual bonus award will be subject to 
such conditions as it may determine
if events subsequently occur that cause 
the committee to consider that the existing 
performance requirements have become 
unfair or impractical it may at its discretion 
amend those conditions providing that in 
the reasonable opinion of the committee 
they shall be no more or less difficult to 
abide by or satisfy as when they were 
originally imposed or last amended
annual incentive and deferred 
bonus for executive directors 
the annual award under the abp for 201314 
consisted of two separate portions a bonus 
based on financial profit measures and 
an individual performance bonus based 
on the achievement of personal targets 
which included the successful execution 
of strategic initiatives
financial performance measures are set 
annually and chosen carefully to ensure a 
strong link between reward and underlying 
group financial performance each year the 
committee considers the most appropriate 
target to apply for the following financial 
year taking into account the group’s key 
strategic priorities and the approved 
budget for the year 
the individual performance bonus 
objectives are specific to each executive 
director and are set based on a set of 
comprehensive business deliverables 
personal performance and the achievement 
of specific individual objectives
for 201415 the annual award under the 
abp will have an additional component which 
is based specifically on the achievement of 
key strategic goals the strategic goals are 
based on the successful delivery of the 
group against a set of performance measures 
which are chosen by the committee to closely 
align to the strategy of the business as 
outlined on pages 18 to 23 and shareholder 
value creation further details of these 
measures for 201415 are set out on page 29 
achievement of the targets for these 
measures would result in a 50 payout 
of the relevant bonus with adjustments 
to reflect over or under performance 
remuneration arrangements 
across the group
we firmly believe that successful delivery 
of our strategy can only be achieved with 
engaged and motivated employees and 
that our group remuneration philosophy 
is sufficient to attract and retain highcalibre 
individuals while this philosophy is 
consistent across the group there may be 
variations due to various reasons including 
geography and the local talent market
  salaries and benefits – a range of factors 
are considered including business and 
individual performance the pay of other 
employees and external market data 
future policy table continued
  meet any stamp duty or liability for any 
other taxes or expenses arising which 
it deems appropriate
  determine that any ltip award 
be subject to additional andor 
modified terms and conditions 
relating to its grant release or 
exercise as may be necessary 
to comply with or take account 
of any relevant laws or regulations
  determine whether the participant 
shall be liable for the employer’s 
ni contributions payable on the 
release or exercise of an award
  determine that an award that has 
not been released shall not lapse 
on cessation of employment for 
reasons including amongst others 
injury disability ill health retirement 
redundancy and death
  determine the period over which a 
participant may exercise all released 
nilcost option awards following his 
cessation of employment and
  if events subsequently occur which 
cause the committee to consider that 
the existing performance requirements 
have become unfair or impractical 
it may at its discretion amend the 
relevant performance requirements 
ensuring that they are no more or less 
difficult to abide by or satisfy as those 
originally imposed or last amended and 
  in the context of oneoff recruitment cash 
or equity awards the committee has 
the discretion to determine appropriate 
performance conditions for any 
equity award taking account of the 
circumstances of each individual case
selection of performance measures 
and how targets are set
ltip
performance measures for the ltip are 
selected after careful consideration by the 
committee and where appropriate following 
consultation with larger shareholders 
the committee believes that the use of an 
eps performance measure currently provides 
the best alignment to group strategy and 
encourages reinforces and rewards the 
delivery of sustainable shareholder value 
the committee has set a stretching 
target for the normalised eps growth 
performance condition for the awards made in 
november 2013 after taking into account the 
group’ s financial projections for the threeyear 
vesting period the setting of the targets in 
future will reflect the group’s prospects at 
that time to ensure that they are suitably 
challenging while being motivational
remuneration report continued
directors’ remuneration policy continued 57
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
vesting of incentives for leavers
cash and deferred share awards under the abp
any cash or deferred share awards 
outstanding under the abp will ordinarily 
lapse on termination of employment 
in certain circumstances such as injury 
disability ill health retirement redundancy 
and death or any other reason at the 
discretion of the remuneration committee 
it will vest in full on the second anniversary 
of the date of grant
alternatively the remuneration committee 
may determine that deferred shares vest 
at cessation of employment where vested 
deferred share awards are in the form of 
a nilcost option the award holder would 
then be entitled to exercise these for a 
period of twelve months from the date 
of vesting after which time any unexercised 
nilcost options will lapse
service contracts and policy on payment for loss of office
executive directors’ service contracts which include details of remuneration will be 
available for inspection at the forthcoming agm in november 2014 and during normal 
business hours at the company’s registered office 
executive directors have rolling service contracts in order to ensure retention of key talent 
and to minimise any potential disruption to the business the notice period for alan hirzel 
jeff iliffe and jim warwick was extended from six months to twelve months for 201415 
the details of executive directors’ contracts are summarised below
commencement of contract
notice period
 months
alan hirzel 9 september 2014 12
jeff iliffe 9 september 2014 12
jim warwick 9 september 2014 12
any payment in lieu of notice is at the committee’s discretion and both mitigation and the 
phasing of payments through the notice period would be considered by the committee 
where appropriate 
all neds including the chairman serve under letters of appointment currently either 
party can terminate on one month’s written notice the policy in relation to notice periods 
may be reviewed from time to time but will not exceed six months 
neither the chairman nor the neds have any right to compensation on the early termination 
of their appointment the details of neds’ current contracts are summarised below
commencement of contract
notice period
 months
mike redmond 1 march 2009 1
jonathan milner 9 september 2014 6
murray hennessy 9 september 2014 1
peter keen 27 october 2005 1
anthony martin 16 september 2011 1
louise patten 27 march 2014 1
michael ross 1 november 2011 1
any unvested cash or deferred award 
outstanding under the abp may be 
paid on a prorata basis for the period 
of the financial year in employment 
at the remuneration committee’s 
absolute discretion and their assessment 
of the achievement of the relevant 
performance targets 
ltip awards
unvested ltip awards ordinarily lapse 
on cessation of employment unless 
the committee in its absolute discretion 
determines otherwise for reasons including 
amongst others injury disability ill health 
retirement redundancy and death in this 
instance the proportion of the award to be 
released is calculated based on the amount 
of the relevant holding period completed on 
the date of cessation and on the satisfaction 
of the performance requirements relating to 
the award
csop options ordinarily lapse on cessation 
of employment options may be exercised 
in certain leaver circumstances including 
death injury ill health disability redundancy 
retirement or the sale of the individual’s 
employing company or business out of the 
group the proportion of the option that 
is exercisable in these circumstances is 
based on the proportion of time from grant 
to the third anniversary and by reference to 
the performance requirements the board 
may at its discretion permit options to be 
exercised by other leavers on such basis 
as it determines
sip awards
payments may be made under the 
company’s sip  the terms of which are 
governed by hmrcapproved plan rules 
and include certain provisions for employees 
leaving the group
change of control
all of abcam’s equitybased plans contain 
change of control clauses deferred share 
awards typically vest upon change of control 
under the ltip  on a change of control 
merger or demerger the remuneration 
committee may at its discretion determine 
the proportion of the award that shall be 
released taking account of whatever 
factors it considers appropriate as well 
as the period over which those awards 
may be exercised
approach to the recruitment and retention of executive directors continued
  share incentives – usually new 
appointees will be granted awards 
under the ltip on the same terms 
as other executive directors 
  to facilitate the recruitment of an 
executive director it may be necessary to 
buy out existing awards from their current 
employer any buyout may take the form 
of a cash payment or share award and 
would take into account the terms of 
the arrangements eg form of award 
performance conditions and timeframe 
being forfeited the overriding principle 
will be that any replacement 
buyout awards should be of no higher 
commercial value to the awards which 
have been forfeited so far as practical 
any buyout would make use of 
existing plans
  the maximum level of variable 
remuneration which may be granted 
in the first year excluding buyouts is 
in line with the aggregate maximums 
set out in the policy table and shall 
be no more than 200 of salary 58
abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
0
illustrations of remuneration policy application
the charts below show hypothetical values of the remuneration package for 201415 
in line with the policy above and include base salary pension benefits and incentives 
the charts provide an illustration of the proportion of total remuneration made up of each 
component of the policy and the value of each component these charts are for illustrative 
purposes only and actual outcomes may differ from those shown
for these purposes base salary is the latest known salary for 201415 benefits are 
as disclosed in the single figure table on page 59 for the year ended 30 june 2014 
and pension is calculated as 12 of base salary
three scenarios have been illustrated for each executive director
minimum 
performance
  no bonus payout
  no vesting under the ltip
ontarget 
performance
  525 of salary payout under the cash award of the abp
  225 of salary payout under the deferred share award of the abp
  ltip awards to a value of 50 of salary of which 50 vest
maximum 
performance
  110 of salary payout under the cash award of the abp
  40 of salary payout under the deferred share award of the abp
  ltip awards to a value of 50 of salary of which 100 vest
consideration of conditions 
elsewhere in the group
the committee has oversight of the main 
compensation structures throughout the 
group and actively considers the relationship 
between general changes to employees’ 
remuneration and executive director reward 
when considering potential changes to 
executive director remuneration the 
committee is provided with comparative 
employee information eg average salary 
reviews across the group
the committee does not consider 
it appropriate to consult directly with 
employees when formulating executive 
director reward policy however it does 
take into account information provided 
by the people and organisational 
development director and feedback 
from our global employee satisfaction 
survey which includes questions about 
pay and conditions generally
existing contractual arrangements
the committee reserves the right to make 
any remuneration payments and payments 
for loss of office notwithstanding that they 
are not in line with the remuneration policy 
where the terms of the payment were agreed
i  before the policy came into effect or
ii  at a time when the relevant individual was 
not a director of the company and in the 
opinion of the committee the payment 
was not in consideration for the individual 
becoming a director of the company
for these purposes ‘payments’ includes 
the committee satisfying awards of variable 
remuneration and in relation to an award 
over shares the terms of the payment are 
‘agreed’ at the time the award is granted
the committee may make minor changes 
to the policy that do not have a material 
advantage to directors to aid in its operation 
or implementation without seeking 
shareholder approval but taking into 
account the interests of shareholders
consideration of shareholder views
the committee is strongly committed 
to an open and transparent dialogue with 
shareholders on remuneration matters 
we believe that it is important to meet 
regularly with our key shareholders to 
understand their views on our remuneration 
arrangements and discuss our approach
the committee will continue to engage 
with shareholders going forward and will 
aim to consult on any material changes 
to the policy or its application
the following section sets out the 
directors’ remuneration for the financial 
year ended 30 june 2014 
notes
1  fixed remuneration is comprised of salary standard benefit provision and employer pension contributionallowance
2  annual variable remuneration comprises cash awards under the abp including the individual performance bonus 
and deferred bonuses awarded under the abp  for which performance targets are measured over a oneyear period
3  all scenarios assume no share price appreciation during the vesting period therefore depending on share price 
performance the actual outcomes could be higher
4 allemployee share plans have been excluded as have any legacy awards which executive directors may hold
5  remuneration for alan hirzel is based upon a prorated salary of £240000 until 8 september 2014 as 
chief marketing officer and £320000 for the remainder of 201415 as chief executive officer
minimum ontarget maximum
fixed annual variable
alan hirzel
multiple period variable
100
£343k
53
35
12
£653k
36
48
16
£963k
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
0
£000
minimum ontarget maximum
fixed annual variable
jim warwick
multiple period variable
100
£298k
53
35
12
£564k
36
48
16
£829k
remuneration report continued
directors’ remuneration policy continued
100 53 36
35
48
12
16
£000
minimum ontarget maximum
fixed annual variable
jeff lliffe
multiple period variable
£299k
£564k
£829k
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
0
£000 59
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
audited information 
single total figure of remuneration
the aggregate remuneration provided to directors who have served as directors in the year ended 30 june 2014 is set out below 
along with comparatives for the prior year
executive directors
jonathan milner
1
alan hirzel
2
jeff iliffe
3
jim warwick
201314
 £000
201213
 £000
201314
 £000
201213
 £000
201314
 £000
201213
 £000
201314
 £000
201213
 £000
a salary
2
321 206 100 — 257 227 260 239
b taxable benefits 3 2 — — 2 2 1 2
c annual bonus 235 250 65 — 169 177 169 187
d deferred bonus 72 80 20 — 52 57 52 60
e longterm incentives 4 278 — — 4 238 4 246
f pensionrelated and other benefits
4
7 5 12 — 32 30 5 4
total remuneration 642 821 197 — 516 731 491 738
1  in 201314 jonathan milner waived an increase in salary of £39000 201213 £103000 which would have taken his salary up to £360000 201213 £319300 his bonus 
and benefits in both years were based on his salary prior to the waiver he took unpaid leave with a value of £10000 in 201213 and this has been deducted from the salary 
disclosed in the table above
2  alan hirzel was employed on 5 august 2013 he was appointed to the board of directors on 30 january 2014 and his remuneration and benefits from this date onwards have 
been included in the table above his deferred bonus award for 201314 was £44289 however the amount disclosed above relates to the period following his appointment to 
the board
3 jeff iliffe took unpaid leave with a value of £2723 in 201314 and this has been deducted from the salary disclosed in the table above
4  in place of pension contributions that can no longer be contributed in a taxefficient way an additional cash allowance andor provision of certain benefits have been provided to 
jonathan milner and jim warwick since 6 april 2012 and to jeff iliffe from 6 april 2014 the value of these cash payments and benefits has been disclosed within pensionrelated 
and other benefits in the table above jonathan milner waived his entitlement to £35000 201213 £33000 and jim warwick waived his entitlement to £26000 201213 £25000 
of these payments in lieu of retirement benefits the company made donations to charities of its choice amounting to the total amounts waived
the figures in the single figure table above are derived from the following
a salary the amount of base salary received in the year
b taxable benefits this is the taxable value of benefits received in the year 
c annual bonus the value of the cash bonus earned in respect of the year consisting of an individual performance bonus 
and an epsbased bonus 
d deferred bonus the value of the epsbased bonus in respect of the year will be deferred as a nilcost option or conditional 
share award over abcam plc shares for at least two years from the date of award the deferred element 
is not subject to further performance conditions but vesting requires continuation of employment
e  longterm 
incentives
the value of performancerelated incentives whose performance targets relate to a period ending 
in the relevant financial year and the value of free and matching shares granted in the year under the 
hmrcapproved sip  based on the fair value of the shares at the date of grant
the ltip awards made in 2009 2010 and 2011 were each divided into two equal portions of which 
half were based on a compound eps growth target relating to the relevant financial years of the company 
and half were based on relative tsr performance against a comparator group measured over the 
vesting period of the award being three years from each date of grant
the values in the 201314 column therefore relate to the tsr awards which vested on 2 december 2013 
valued using the midmarket closing share price on that date of 4885 pence along with the eps awards 
which will vest on 1 november 2014 valued using the midmarket closing share price on 30 june 2014
the values shown in the 201213 column relate to the tsr awards which vested on 9 november 2012 
valued using the midmarket closing share price on that date of 3780 pence along with the eps awards 
which vested on 2 december 2013 valued using the midmarket closing share price of 4535 pence 
on 30 june 2013
f  pensionr elated 
and other benefits
the value of the employer contribution to the defined contribution pension plan or the value of a salary 
or benefit supplement paid in lieu of a contribution to this pension plan
remuneration report continued
the annual report on remuneration for the year ended 30 june 2014 60
abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
audited information continued 
single total figure of remuneration continued
nonexecutive directors
fees
201314 
£000
201213 
£000
mike redmond 72 70
murray hennessy 39 37
peter keen 45 44
anthony martin 39 37
louise patten
1
13 —
tony kouzarides
2
— 10
michael ross 37 36
total remuneration 245 234
1  louise patten was appointed to the board of directors 
on 27 march 2014 her remuneration from this date 
onwards has been included in the above table
2 resigned from the board 22 october 2012
details of individual elements 
of remuneration
base salaryfees
as reported last year the committee 
approved salary increases for the 
executive directors from 1 july 2013 
to their respective median levels from a 
benchmarking review which was undertaken 
in 2010 notwithstanding that the group 
is now much larger and more complex 
than when the review was undertaken 
this resulted in an increase in base salary 
of 127 for jonathan milner 147 for 
jeff iliffe and 88 for jim warwick
the fees for the neds were increased by 
40 from 1 july 2014 which was in line 
with the range of salary increases across 
the group
salary increases for executive directors 
for 201415 are 2 which is in line with 
cost of living increases for ukbased 
employees fees for nonexecutive directors 
will be reviewed later in the year including 
consideration of paying part of the fees in 
shares in order to better align with 
shareholder interests
taxable benefits
benefits comprise amounts in respect 
of life insurance private medical cover 
and annual health screening
annual bonus
for the year ended 30 june 2014 the 
annual bonus under the abp consisted 
of an individual performance bonus and 
an award based on performance against 
a group eps target for the year delivered 
in cash
the total ontarget and maximum annual bonus is summarised as follows
ontarget 
 of base salary
maximum 
 of base salary
individual performance bonus 125 250
epsbased cash bonus 450 850
575 1100
the epsbased cash award under the abp was based on the following targets 
with straightline apportionment for performance between these levels 
target  of award earned equivalent  of salary
0–95 of target eps 0 0
95–105 of target eps 353–706 30–60
105–110 of target eps 706–1000 60–85
group eps is defined as group adjusted diluted eps before cash bonuses for 201314 
the target was 1855 pence group eps achieved on the same basis was 1825 pence 
which resulted in 472 of the epsbased award being earned
taking into account achievement against personal objectives and contributions 
to the strategic direction of the business the individual performance bonuses for 
the executive directors were determined to be achieved in full the overall bonus 
outcomes for the executive directors were 25 of salary
deferred bonus
for the year ended 30 june 2014 the performance targets for the deferred bonus were 
based on group adjusted diluted eps before the effect of deferred bonuses which for 
201314 was 1815 pence against a target of 1829 pence
the deferred bonus was based on the following targets with straightline apportionment 
for performance between these levels
target  of award earned equivalent  of salary
0–95 of target eps 0 0
95–105 of target eps 353–706 1412–2824
105–110 of target eps 706–1000 2824–4000
the deferred bonus achievement for executive directors in 201314 was 993 of the 
eps target resulting in a payout of 201 of salary 
the value of the deferred bonus in respect of the year will be deferred into abcam plc shares 
for a further two years from the date of approval of these audited financial statements subject 
to continuation of employment the deferral may be structured as a nilcost options and 
would exercisable for a period of seven years from the date of vesting the deferred element 
is not subject to further performance conditions
longterm incentives
the ltip awards made in 2009 2010 and 2011 were each divided into two equal portions 
of which half were based on a compound eps growth target relating to the three relevant 
financial years of the company and half were based on relative tsr performance against 
a comparator group measured over the threeyear vesting period of the award
the values shown in the 201314 column in the ‘single total figure of remuneration’ table 
relate to those awards for which the performance conditions were tested in the year the 
tsr awards which vested on 2 december 2013 and the eps awards which will vest on 
1 november 2014 based on eps performance over the three years ended 30 june 2014
vesting of the tsr awards was determined as follows with proportional straightline 
vesting between these points over the threeyear period ended on 2 december 2013
tsr performance compared to comparator group  of tsr award vesting
below 50th percentile 0
at 50th percentile 30
at or above 75th percentile 100
remuneration report continued
the annual report on remuneration for the year ended 30 june 2014 continued 61
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
details of individual elements 
of remuneration continued
longterm incentives continued
the comparator group comprised those 
companies quoted in the uk which were 
as close a fit as possible to abcam in terms 
of activities undertaken customer base 
size and growth profile
the company’s tsr performance over this 
threeyear period fell below the median of 
the comparator group and therefore none 
of the tsr awards vested
vesting of the relevant eps awards was 
determined as follows with proportional 
straightline vesting between these points 
over the threeyear period ending on 
30 june 2014
annualised compounded 
growth in eps
 of eps  
award vesting
below 15 0
at or above 20 100
the company’s annualised compounded 
eps growth over the threeyear performance 
period ended 30 june 2014 was 95 
resulting in none of the eps awards vesting
for the ltips whose performance 
conditions were tested in the prior year 
169 of the eps awards and 926 of 
the tsr awards vested respectively
under the sip  £3000 of free shares and 
£1500 of matching shares were awarded 
to each executive director in office on the 
date of grant in the current and prior period
retirement benefits
the company operates a flexible benefits 
scheme under which the executive directors 
are entitled to contributions to be made by 
the company on their behalf equivalent to 
12 of base salary each executive director 
can choose how to spend this contribution 
amongst the specific benefits available and 
also has the option to sacrifice an element 
of base pay to make additional pension 
contributions into the company’s money 
purchase pension scheme or to purchase 
other benefits as a result of the salary 
sacrificed and used to purchase additional 
pension contributions or benefits the 
company’s national insurance ni liability 
is reduced and the benefit of this reduction is 
added as a contribution to each executive 
director’s pension fund this amount is 
included within the pensionrelated benefit 
figures disclosed in the ‘single total figure 
of remuneration’ table above
where executive directors have elected 
to preserve their current lifetime allowance 
for pension contributions meaning that no 
further pension contributions can be made 
into their pension schemes they are entitled 
to draw a cash supplement or other benefits 
equivalent to the cost to the company of 
their pension entitlement as adjusted for 
employer’s ni contributions such that the 
company is in no better or worse position 
these amounts have been included within 
the pensionrelated benefits disclosed in 
the ‘single total figure of remuneration’ 
table on page 59
the ltip has been structured in a taxefficient 
manner as an hmrcapproved executive 
share option scheme this taxefficient 
element is applicable up to a maximum of 
the first £30000 of the award calculated 
based on the market value of shares at the 
date of grant reduced by the value of any 
other outstanding approved share options 
at the end of the performance period if a 
portion of the share price increase is delivered 
via the taxefficient csop then a portion of 
the part a ltip award would lapse this 
means that in aggregate on a pretax basis 
only the value of the part a ltip is delivered 
thus the csop value is not taken 
into account in the award basis of 50 
of salary 
the share prices used to calculate the 
face value of the ltipcsop awards 
deferred share awards and the free and 
matching shares under the sip were the 
midmarket prices on the day prior to 
award date being 464 pence for the 
25 november 2013 awards and 509 pence 
for the 24 october 2013 awards
the performance conditions for the ltip 
awards are based on target annualised 
compound eps growth over the threeyear 
period ending on 30 june 2016 there will 
be 50 vesting at 105 compound 
growth and 100 vesting at 15 growth 
with proportionate straightline vesting 
between these two figures 
although alan hirzel joined the company 
in august 2013 he did not become a 
member of the board of directors until 
30 january 2014 after the award of 
scheme interests for the year his scheme 
interests have therefore been excluded 
from the above table
scheme interests awarded during the year
executive director
type of  
interest 
awarded award basis
face value 
of award
£000
 vesting at
 minimum
 performance
 requirements performance period date of award date of vesting
jonathan milner
jeff iliffe
jim warwick
ltip  
part a
total of 50 of base 
salary before any 
voluntary waiver less the 
value of sip free and 
matching awards
—
30
30
0 1 jul 2013 –
30 jun 2016
25 nov 2013 25 nov 2016
jonathan milner
jeff iliffe
jim warwick
csop —
30
30
0 1 jul 2013 –
30 jun 2016
25 nov 2013 25 nov 2016
jonathan milner
jeff iliffe
jim warwick
ltip  
part b
176
96
96
1 jul 2013 –
30 jun 2016
25 nov 2013 25 nov 2016
jonathan milner
jeff iliffe
jim warwick
sip –  
free  
shares
maximum award as per 
scheme rules
3
3
3
na na 24 oct 2013 24 oct 2016
jonathan milner
jeff iliffe
jim warwick
sip –  
matching 
shares
maximum award as per 
scheme rules
1
1
1
na na 24 oct 2013 24 oct 2016
jonathan milner
jeff iliffe
jim warwick
abp – 
deferred 
share  
award
up to 40 of base salary 
before any voluntary 
waiver subject to eps 
performance conditions
80
57
60
na na 10 sep 2013 10 sep 2015 62
abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
audited information continued 
payments to past directors
there have been no payments to former directors during the year
payments for loss of office
during the year there have been no payments made to directors for loss of office
statement of directors’ shareholdings and share interests
although there were no formal shareholding guidelines in place in 201314 the majority of executive directors already held significant 
value in shares with effect from the date of the 2014 agm the committee will introduce a shareholding guideline of two times salary 
for all executive directors this level is to be built up over a period ending on the later of the fifth anniversary of appointment or the fifth 
anniversary of introduction of the policy the extent to which each executive director has met the shareholding guideline as at 30 june 2014 
is shown in the table below
beneficial
shareholding
1
beneficial 
holding
as a 
percentage 
of salary
2
type
owned 
outright
outstanding scheme interests
345
total of all share 
interests and 
outstanding 
scheme interests
unvested 
subject to 
performance 
measures
unvested not 
subject to 
performance 
measures
vested but 
unexercised
executive directors
jonathan milner 27362466 28883 shares 27362466 — — — 27362466
nonbeneficial shares 595500 — — — 595500
ltip ‘b’ awards — 77361 — — 77361
deferred awards — — 17278 — 17278
sip free — — 2246 — 2246
sip matching — — 1124 — 1124
27957966 77361 20648 — 28055975
alan hirzel 8313 13 shares 8313 — — — 8313
csop options — 6465 — — 6465
ltip ‘a’ awards — 6465 — — 6465
ltip ‘b’ awards — 18639 — — 18639
sip free — — 589 — 589
sip matching — — 294 — 294
8313 31569 883 — 40765
jeff iliffe 276000 403 shares 276000 — — — 276000
unapproved options — — — 170460 170460
emi options — — — 40000 40000
csop options — 6465 — — 6465
ltip ‘a’ awards — 6465 — — 6465
ltip ‘b’ awards — 49289 — 180745 230034
deferred awards — — 12262 — 12262
sip free — — 2246 — 2246
sip matching — — 1124 — 1124
276000 62219 15632 391205 745056
jim warwick 2944150 4303 shares 2944150 — — — 2944150
csop options — 6465 — — 6465
ltip ‘a’ awards — 6465 — — 6465
ltip ‘b’ awards — 50894 — 297488 348382
deferred awards — — 12931 — 12931
sip free — — 2246 — 2246
sip matching — — 1124 — 1124
2944150 63824 16301 297488 3321763
remuneration report continued
the annual report on remuneration for the year ended 30 june 2014 continued 63
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
statement of directors’ shareholdings and share interests continued
beneficial 
shareholding
1
beneficial 
holding
as a 
percentage 
of salary
2
type
owned 
outright
outstanding scheme interests
345
total of all share 
interests and 
outstanding 
scheme interests
unvested 
subject to 
performance 
measures
unvested not 
subject to 
performance 
measures
vested but 
unexercised
executive directors
6
mike redmond 88725 na shares 88725 — — — 88725
murray hennessy 12800 na shares 12800 — — — 12800
peter keen 169125 na shares 169125 — — — 169125
anthony martin — na shares — — — — —
louise patten 13617 na shares 13617 — — — 13617
michael ross — na shares — — — — —
notes
1 interests in shares held at 30 june 2014 include shares held by connected persons
2 based on share price of 380 pence at 30 june 2014 and salary at 30 june 2014
3  outstanding scheme interests under the ltip  sip and abp deferred share awards take the form of rights to receive shares nilcost share options or conditional share awards 
outstanding csop  unapproved and emi options take the form of rights to receive shares on payment of the relevant exercise price
4 outstanding scheme interests under the ltip for which the performance conditions were not met have been excluded
5 details of each scheme interest held by each executive director are set out below
6 the neds and the chairman are not eligible to participate in the ltip 
there have been no changes in the interests of the executive directors or neds between 30 june 2014 and the date of approval of the 
201314 annual report and accounts 
reconciliations of the opening scheme interests to those at the end of the year are provided in the tables below including grantsawards 
exercises and lapses
details of scheme interests exercised in the year
jonathan milner was the only director to exercise share options and awards in the year details of his exercises are as follows
scheme
type of
award
number of 
shares
exercise price
pence
market price 
on date 
of exercise
pence
gain on 
exercise
£
2005 plan emi 24210 826 4260 83137
2005 plan unapproved 205810 826 4260 706752
csop approved 16590 1808 4260 40679
ltip ‘a’ unapproved 7076 02 4260 30130
ltip ‘b’ unapproved 350060 02 4260 1490555
603746 2351253
details of outstanding scheme interests
abcam plc 2005 plan ‘the plan’
details of options over 02 pence ordinary shares in the company for directors who served during the year all of which had vested 
before the start of the year are as follows
number of 
awards
at 30 june 
2013 granted exercised
number of 
awards
at 30 june 
2014
exercise price
pence
date from which 
exercisable expiry date
jeff iliffe 210460 — — 210460 624 8 nov 2010 7 nov 2017
jonathan milner 230020 — 230020 — 826 8 may 2011 7 may 2018
440480 — 230020 210460
the plan was adopted prior to flotation in 2005 and amended in 2008 to make it more tax efficient for usbased employees all options 
granted under the plan since flotation have been based on outperformance of the ftse aim allshare 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 performance will be monitored on certain dates over the next twelve 
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 no options were granted under the plan to the executive directors
of the 210460 share options outstanding at the end of the year for jeff iliffe 40000 of these are emi options subject to capital gains 
tax and 170460 are unapproved options subject to income tax and employee’s and employer’s ni to be paid by the participant  64
abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
audited information continued 
details of outstanding scheme interests continued
ltip and csop awards 
details of ltip and csop awards outstanding for directors who served during the year are as follows 
name of director type of award
exercise price 
pence
number of
 awards at 
30 june 
2013 
1
awarded 
2
exercised lapsed
number of 
awards 
at 30 june 
2014
number of 
vested awards 
at 30 june 
2014 
3
jonathan milner csop 1808 16590 — 16590 — — — 
‘a’ award 02 16590 — 7076 9514 — —
‘b’ award 02 553134 38035 350060 81123 159986 —
586314 38035 373726 90637 159986 —
alan hirzel csop 4640 6465 — — — 6465 —
‘a’ award 02 6465 — — — 6465 —
‘b’ award 02 18639 — — — 18639 —
31569 — — — 31569 —
jeff iliffe csop 4640 — 6465 — — 6465 —
‘a’ award 02 — 6465 — — 6465 —
‘b’ award 02 348349 20794 — 68917 300226 180745
348349 33724 — 68917 313156 180745
jim warwick csop 4640 — 6465 — — 6465 —
‘a’ award 02 — 6465 — — 6465 —
‘b’ award 02 449557 20794 — 60426 409925 297488
449557 33724 — 60426 422855 297488
1415789 105483 373726 219980 927566 478233
1 the number of awards shown in the opening balance column for alan hirzel reflects his total awards outstanding on the date of his appointment to the board 30 january 2014
2 the market price at the date of award for all awards made during the year was 464 pence
3 these relate to the 2008 2009 and 2010 awards and are included in the number of awards at 30 june 2013
part ‘a’ awards under the ltip refer to the first £30000 of ltip value awarded at the date of grant a corresponding csop option is also 
granted with an exercise price equal to the share price at the date of grant and subject to the same performance conditions in respect 
of the ltip part ‘a’ award subject to achievement of the relevant performance conditions the participant will receive the lower of the 
number of shares with an aggregate value of £30000 at the date of release and the number of shares originally subject to the award 
thus £30000 of gain will be subject to income taxni and any increase in value between the date of grant of the award and the date 
at which the shares are sold is delivered through the csop option and is subject to capital gains tax
annual bonus plan deferred share awards
deferred share awards made under the abp which remain outstanding at 30 june 2014 are outlined below
executive directors
abp shares 
nilcost 
options held 
at 30 june 2013
nilcost 
options awarded 
during the year 
ended 30 june 
2014
1
award date
market price per 
share at award
planned 
vesting
 date
maximum abp 
sharesnilcost 
options held 
at 30 june 
2014
jonathan milner — 17278 10 sep 2013 463 pence 10 sep 2015 17278
jeff iliffe — 12262 12262
jim warwick — 12931 12931
42471 42471
1 these options relate to the awards made in september 2013 under the abp for financial year 2013
remuneration report continued
the annual report on remuneration for the year ended 30 june 2014 continued 65
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
details of outstanding scheme interests continued
sip
abcam operates an hmrcapproved sip for all uk employees under the sip  awards are made as follows
free share awards
annual awards are made to ukbased staff with a market value of up to the hmrc limit which in 201314 was £3000 each awards take 
the form of a conditional entitlement to shares and will vest after three years’ continuous employment with the company
partnership and matching share awards
all ukbased employees are given the opportunity to invest up to the hmrc limit which in 201314 was £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 employed by the company 
during that time then they will also receive an additional share for each share acquired
dividend shares
shares conditionally and beneficially held in the sip are entitled to earn dividends these are immediately beneficially owned and can be 
removed from the sip by the participant with no penalty
the following table sets out the shares purchased and awarded under the sip in respect of each of the executive directors during the year
 
conditionally awarded shares beneficially owned shares
executive director type of award
number
conditionally
awarded
shares
as at
30 june
2013 
1
shares 
conditionally 
awarded 
during the 
year 
conditionally
awarded
shares
transferred
to beneficial
ownership
during the
year
number
conditionally
awarded
shares
as at
30 june
2014
number
beneficially
owned
shares
as at
30 june
2013 
1
shares 
purchased
acquired
transferred 
to beneficial 
ownership 
during the 
year
number
beneficially
owned
shares
as at
30 june
2014
jonathan milner jeff iliffe  
and jim warwick
free 2526 589 869 2246 4900 869 5769
partnership — — — — 3559 295 3854
matching 1214 295 385 1124 2345 385 2730
dividend — — — — 731 175 906
3740 884 1254 3370 11535 1724 13259
alan hirzel free 589 — — 589 — — —
partnership — — — — 294 — 294
matching 294 — — 294 — — —
dividend — — — — 12 — 12
883 — — 883 306 — 306
1  the number of conditionally awarded and beneficially owned shares shown in the opening balance columns for alan hirzel reflects his interest on the date of his appointment 
to the board 30 january 2014
the awardpurchase of free matching and partnership shares in the year took place on 24 october 2013 at a price of 50925 pence 
per share
the market price of the ordinary shares at 30 june 2014 was 380 pence and the range during the year was 525 pence to 350 pence
nonexecutive appointments at other companies 
the following executive directors served as neds elsewhere and received and retained fees for the period covered by this report as follows
executive director company
fees
£
jonathan milner frontier developments plc 28750
jonathan milner horizon discover plc 9110
jeff iliffe treatt plc 30768
jim warwick quartix ltd 5833
jonathan milner also served as a ned elsewhere but did not receive fees for those appointments jeff iliffe also serves on the board of 
trustees of a charity and does not receive fees for this appointment jim warwick also serves on the board of directors for an academy 
school for which he does not receive fees 66
abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
unaudited information 
performance graph and table
the company’s tsr performance over the previous five years compared to a broad equity market is shown in the graph below 
the aim allshare index has been chosen as the comparator index
ceo remuneration
the table below shows the historic levels of jonathan milner’s pay single figure of total remuneration and annual variable and longterm 
incentive pay awards as a percentage of plan maxima
financial year
ceo single figure of
total remuneration
£000
annual bonus 
awarded against
maximum opportunity
longterm incentive
vesting rates against
maximum opportunity
201314 642 568 0
201213 821 712 169
201112 739 600 963
201011 805 627 100
200910 716 1000 na
percentage change in remuneration of ceo
abcam has an international workforce of more than 740 due to the differing local pay levels across each of our overseas offices 
the committee considers the most meaningful comparator group to be the average remuneration of uk employees
the following table shows the percentage change in remuneration between the years ended 30 june 2013 and 30 june 2014 
for the ceo and this comparator group
salary taxable benefits annual bonus
ceo percentage change
1
127 449 70
comparator group percentage change
2
48 48 85
1  the rationale behind the ceo’s salary increase in the current period is provided on page 52 jonathan waived part of his salary increase in the year the significant percentage 
increase in taxable benefits 201314 £3k 201213 £2k was as a result of the benefits being calculated on the salary prewaiver
2 comparator group is inclusive of promotions in the period
remuneration report continued
the annual report on remuneration for the year ended 30 june 2014 continued
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
august 2009 august 2010 august 2011 august 2012 august 2014 august 2013
abcam tsr rebased ftse aim all share tsr rebased 67
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
annual incentive 
and deferred bonus
the committee considered it appropriate 
for additional measures to be incorporated 
into the abp for 201415 to incentivise 
more directly the success of our organic 
growth initiatives 
for the 201314 annual incentive 
125 of salary was based on one year’s 
profit performance under the approach 
for 201415 this will be adjusted so that 
bonuses of up to 75 of salary will be 
based on one year’s profit performance 
which will exclude the impact of exchange 
rate fluctuations in order to provide a better 
measure of operational performance 
bonuses of up to a further 50 of salary 
will be based on performance against 
strategic measures which will be in the 
following areas
annual bonus strategic 
performance measures for 201415
  rabmab
®
 revenue growth
  nonprimaries revenue growth
  net promoter score 
  market position
the targets set in each of these areas will 
be measurable and quantifiable
as in prior years a maximum bonus of 
up to 25 of salary will be based on the 
achievement of individual performance 
targets these will be measured through 
an assessment of comprehensive business 
deliverables personal performance and the 
achievement of specific individual objectives
the exact values for each of these metrics 
will not be disclosed in advance however 
as they are deemed by the committee to 
be commercially sensitive the nature of 
these targets relies upon the use of internal 
budgets and strategic plans which would 
be inappropriate to disclose ahead of time 
appropriate retrospective disclosure of 
targets will be provided when these are no 
longer considered commercially sensitive
no payment will be made under those 
elements of the deferred bonus which are 
dependent on the achievement of strategic 
or individual performance targets unless a 
minimum profit underpin has been met
the portion of the bonus deferred and paid 
in shares will be 30 201314 27
relative importance of spend on pay
the graph below shows abcam’s dividend payout increased by 106 versus total group 
employee pay expenditure increase of 87 for the financial years ended 30 june 2014 and 
2013 and the respective percentage changes 
 
1  dividends are the interim and final dividends paid in respect of the financial year ended 30 june 2013 and the 
interim dividend paid and the final dividend recommended in respect of the financial year ended 30 june 2014
2  total employee pay includes bonuses employer social security pension contributions redundancies and 
sharebased charges
remuneration for the year commencing 1 july 2014
the following sections outlines how the executive directors’ remuneration policy 
as outlined on pages 53 to 55 will be implemented in 201415
salary
the committee has reviewed the anticipated performance of the business along with 
current market conditions the scope of individual’s role andor responsibilities and pay 
at other companies of similar size industry and complexity to abcam plc as such the 
committee has increased executive directors’ base salaries by 20 commensurate with 
cost of living increases the salary for alan hirzel in his new role as ceo will be £320000
salary 201314
£000
change 

salary as at  
1 july 2014
£000
jonathan milner
1
360 2 367
alan hirzel
2
240 2 245
jeff iliffe 260 2 265
jim warwick 260 2 265
1 in 2014 jonathan milner waived an increase in salary of £39000 the salary shown is before the waiver
2  alan hirzel was employed on 5 august 2013 he was appointed to the board of directors on 30 january 2014 
and his salary as a director from that date to 30 june 2014 was £100000 his salary increase as chief marketing officer 
on a prorata basis was 2 in line with the increase of the other executive directors
dividend
1
total employee pay
2
106
87
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
£m
201213 201314 68
abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
remuneration report continued
the annual report on remuneration for the year ended 30 june 2014 continued
the 201415 ltip award will be based 
on eps growth targets the targets will be 
determined at the time of the award taking 
into account the approved budget for the 
year and the group’s longerterm financial 
outlook the targets will be disclosed in the 
201415 annual remuneration report
the overall performance framework is set 
out opposite
maximum 201415 measures
annual bonus plan 110 profit growth – 75
strategic targets – 50
personal objectives – 25 
– no change
deferred share plan 40
long term incentive plan 50 threeyear eps growth 
– no change
 
pension 
the company retains its policy of 
contributing 12 of base salary prior to 
any voluntary waivers into each executive 
director’s pension scheme this figure may 
be amended from time to time in accordance 
with benchmarking reviews against current 
market practice
consideration by the directors 
of matters relating to directors’ 
remuneration
the committee advises the board on overall 
remuneration policy it also determines on 
behalf of the board and with the benefit of 
advice from external consultants the people 
and organisational development director 
and other members of the human resources 
department the remuneration of the 
executive directors and proposes a fee for 
the chairman of the board of directors
the committee formulates and applies the 
policy with consideration to the prevailing 
economic climate in the major economies 
in which the group operates it also observes 
the spirit of the group’s core values which 
cultivate responsible leadership in the 
external and internal social environment 
consequently the committee closely 
considers the company’s performance 
in building both shareholder value and 
a secure future for all stakeholders
the activities of the committee are governed 
by its terms of reference which were last 
revised on 5 september 2014 and can be 
found on the company’s website
the committee currently comprises three 
neds each of whom the company deems 
to be independent
  louise patten – chairman 
appointed 27 march 2014
  murray hennessy
  anthony martin
peter keen resigned from the committee 
on 27 march 2014
the company’s chairman and cfo attend 
the committee meetings by invitation and 
assist the committee in its deliberations 
except when issues relating to their own 
compensation are discussed no director 
is involved in deciding his own remuneration 
no member of the committee has any 
personal financial interest other than as a 
shareholder in the matters to be decided 
by the committee the three independent 
members of the committee have no conflicts 
of interest arising from crossdirectorships 
members of the committee have no 
daytoday involvement in the running 
of the company the committee met four 
times during the year details of attendance 
can be found in the corporate governance 
report see page 45
while it is the committee’s responsibility 
to exercise independent judgement the 
committee does request advice from 
management and professional advisors 
as fully informed given the internal and 
external environment
external advisors to the committee
the following table sets out the details of external advisors who provided material 
assistance to the committee during the year in its consideration of matters related 
to directors’ remuneration
advisors appointment and selection
other services 
provided to the 
company
fees for 
committee 
assistance
deloitte llp deloitte appointed by the committee to  
consider incentive pay and perform  
a salary benchmarking review 
tax and other 
consultancy 
advice
£17750 
deloitte is a member of the remuneration consultants group and as such voluntarily 
operates under the code of conduct in relation to executive remuneration consulting in 
the uk therefore the committee is satisfied that advice received from deloitte during the 
year was objective and independent
during the year the committee also sought input from the chief financial officer jeff iliffe 
chief operating officer jim warwick and the people and organisational development 
director jane cooke on various subjects including the remuneration of senior management
statement of voting at general meeting
the table below shows the voting outcome at the november 2013 agm for the approval 
of the 201213 remuneration report
votes for votes against
number  number  votes total votes withheld
118298075 9852 1781665 148 120079740 —
the committee believes the 9852 votes in favour of the remuneration report shows 
very strong shareholder support for the group’s remuneration arrangements 
the directors’ remuneration report was approved by a duly authorised committee of the 
board and signed on its behalf by
louise patten
remuneration committee chairman
8 september 2014
unaudited information continued
longterm incentives 69
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
directors’ report
the directors present their report and the 
audited financial statements for the year 
ended 30 june 2014 
pages 1 to 71 inclusive together with the 
sections of the annual report incorporated 
by reference consist of a directors’ report 
that has been drawn up and presented in 
accordance with and in reliance upon 
applicable english company law and the 
liabilities of the directors in connection with 
that report shall be subject to the limitations 
and restrictions provided by such law
the following additional disclosures to be 
included in the directors’ report are made in 
compliance with the companies act 2006 
the disclosure and transparency rules which 
the company has voluntarily chosen to 
apply and the uk corporate governance 
code 2012
likely future developments
the outlook for the business and likely future 
developments are outlined in the marketplace 
and trends and the our strategy sections 
of the strategic review on pages 18 to 23 
and are incorporated in the directors’ report 
by cross reference
post balance sheet events
there have been no important events affecting 
the company or group since the year end 
research and development activities
a description of the group’s rd activities 
is given in the finance review on page 32 
and is incorporated in the directors’ report 
by cross reference 
dividends
the directors recommend a final 
dividend of 562 pence 201213 510 pence 
per ordinary share to be paid on 
28 november 2014 to shareholders on the 
register on 7 november 2014 together with 
the interim dividend of 213 pence per share 
paid on 18 april 2014 this makes a combined 
dividend for the year of 775 pence 
201213 704 pence representing 
an increase of 101
employee information
details of the group’s policy in respect 
of the employment and training of persons 
with disabilities are given in the corporate 
social responsibility report on pages 33 
to 35 and are incorporated in the directors’ 
report by cross reference
financial instruments
the group’s financial risk management 
objectives and policies including the policy 
for hedging each major type of forecasted 
transaction for which hedge accounting is 
used and the group’s exposure to price risk 
credit risk liquidity risk and cash flow risk are 
given in note 26 to the financial statements
information on the principal risks and 
uncertainties and how they are managed 
by the group is included in the strategic 
report on pages 24 to 28
control and share 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 note 24 
the company has one class of ordinary share 
which carries no right to fixed income 
major interests in shares
on 26 august 2014 the company had been notified in accordance with chapter 5 of the disclosure and transparency rules of the 
voting rights as a shareholder of the company as set out below excluding directors’ interests which are set out on page 62
fund manager
number of 
ordinary shares 
held 
percentage of 
issued share 
capital
baillie gifford 18420642 919
t rowe price global investments 18051227 900
wasatch advisors 15799772 788
standard life investments 9109589 454
select equity group 7526434 375
each share carries the right to one vote 
at general meetings of the company
other than specific lockins and orderly 
marketing provisions negotiated with 
vendors in connection with acquisitions 
made by 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 the directors are not aware 
of any agreements between holders of the 
company’s shares that may result in 
restrictions on the transfer of securities 
or on voting rights 
details of employee share schemes are set 
out in note 27 shares held by the abcam 
employee share benefit trust abstain 
from voting
no person has any special rights of control 
over the company’s share capital and all 
issued shares are fully paid
agreements affected by a change 
of control
the agreements affected by change of 
control are outlined in the remuneration 
report on page 52
other than some oem supplier agreements 
that have an option to be terminated the 
company is not party to any agreements 
which take effect alter or terminate upon a 
change of control of the company following 
a takeover bid there are no agreements 
between the company and its directors 
or employees providing for compensation 
for loss of office or employment whether 
through resignation purported redundancy 
or otherwise that occurs because of a 
takeover bid 70
abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
purchase of own shares
at the end of the year the directors had 
authority under the shareholders’ resolutions 
of 8 november 2013 to purchase through 
the market 19950000 of the company’s 
ordinary shares provided that
i  the amount paid for each share exclusive 
of expenses shall not be more than the 
higher of 1 5 above the average market 
value for the five business days before the 
date on which the contract for the purchase 
is made and 2 an amount equal to the 
higher of the price of the last independent 
trade and current independent bid as 
derived from the aim appendix to the 
daily official list of the london stock 
exchange or less than 02 pence per 
share and
ii  the authority expires at the conclusion 
of the agm of the company to be held 
on 3 november 2014 
no shares were purchased under the above 
authority during the year under review 
directors
the following served as directors of 
the company during the year ended 
30 june 2014
  mike redmond
  jonathan milner
  jeff iliffe
  jim warwick
  alan hirzel appointed 30 january 2014
  murray hennessy 
  peter keen
  anthony martin 
  louise patten appointed 27 march 2014
  michael ross
reelection of directors
the company’s articles of association 
require that a minimum of onethird of the 
directors must retire by rotation each year 
excluding directors who are retiring and 
standing for election at the first agm 
following their appointment to the board 
at the agm to be held on 3 november 2014 
alan hirzel and louise patten will retire and 
stand for election this being the first agm 
following their respective appointments to 
the board
jim warwick who last stood for reelection 
in 2011 will retire by rotation and offer himself 
for reelection as required under the articles 
peter keen will have served on the board 
for nine years and therefore in line with 
best practice will not be seeking reelection 
after five years of service mike redmond 
will also be stepping down from the board
brief biographical descriptions of the 
directors are set out on pages 38 and 39
following performance evaluation the 
chairman has determined that each 
individual continues to demonstrate 
commitment to his role and to display 
effective performance he is therefore 
recommending election of all directors 
offering themselves for election or  
reelection at this year’s agm
the beneficial and nonbeneficial interests 
of the directors in the company’s ordinary 
shares of 02 pence are disclosed in the 
remuneration report
appointment of directors
abcam shareholders may by ordinary 
resolution appoint any person to be a 
director abcam must have not less than 
three and no more than twelve directors 
holding office at all times abcam may by 
ordinary resolution from time to time vary 
the minimum andor maximum number 
of directors
the directors may appoint a director to fill 
a vacancy or as an additional director to hold 
office until the next agm who shall then be 
eligible for election
articles of association
abcam’s articles of association may be 
amended only by a special resolution at 
a general meeting of shareholders 
powers of directors
abcam’s articles of association confer 
the following powers on the directors
  to manage the business of the group
  to establish any local boards or agencies for 
managing any of the affairs of the group
  to appoint any attorney of the company
  to authorise all payments and other 
negotiable or transferable instruments 
and all receipts for moneys paid to 
the company
  to establish any schemes or funds for 
providing pensions annuities sickness or 
compassionate allowance life assurance 
benefits donations gratuities or other 
benefits for employees and to make 
contributions out of the company’s 
money to such schemes or funds
  to support any institutions associations 
clubs funds or trusts calculated to be for 
the benefit of employees
  to sanction the exercise of any 
power conferred upon the company by 
section 247 of the companies act 2006
  to make payments to charities and
  to restrict the borrowings of the group 
to an amount not exceeding three times 
the ‘adjusted capital and reserves’ as 
defined within the articles of association 
qualifying third party 
indemnity provisions
the company has made qualifying third 
party indemnity provisions for the benefit 
of its directors which were made during 
the reporting period and these remain in 
force at the date of this report
corporate governance
the company’s statement on corporate 
governance can be found in the corporate 
governance report on pages 41 to 45 of 
these financial statements the corporate 
governance report forms part of this 
directors’ report and is incorporated into 
it by cross reference
going concern
in adopting the going concern basis for 
preparing the financial statements the 
directors have considered the business 
activities as set out on pages 1 to 34 
reviewed the group forecasts and budgets 
as well as the group’s principal risks and 
uncertainties as set out on pages 24 to 28
the directors are satisfied that the group has 
adequate resources to continue in operational 
existence for the foreseeable future for this 
reason the group continues to adopt the 
going concern basis in preparing its 
financial statements
annual general meeting agm
the agm will be held at 330 science park 
milton road cambridge cb4 0fl uk 
on 3 november 2014 at 1100am 
a presentation will be made at this 
meeting outlining recent developments 
in the business all voting at the meeting 
will be conducted on a poll where every 
shareholder present in person or by proxy 
will have one vote for each share of which 
they are the owner the group will convey 
the results of the poll on the website after 
the agm shareholders are invited to 
submit written questions in advance of 
the meeting questions should be sent 
to the company secretary abcam plc 
330 science park milton road 
cambridge cb4 0fl uk
a resolution to reappoint 
pricewaterhousecoopers llp as auditor 
to the group will be proposed at the agm 
details of other resolutions to be proposed 
at the meeting are set out in the circular 
and notice of agm 2014 which will be 
made available to all shareholders together 
with a proxy card
directors’ report continued 71
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
statement of directors’ 
responsibilities
the directors are responsible for 
preparing the annual report the 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 under that law the directors 
have prepared the group and parent 
company financial statements in accordance 
with international financial reporting 
standards ifrss as adopted by the 
european union under company law the 
directors must not approve the financial 
statements unless they are satisfied that 
they give a true and fair view of the state 
of affairs of the group and the company 
and of the profit or loss of the group for 
that period in preparing these financial 
statements the directors are required to
  select suitable accounting policies 
and then apply them consistently
  make judgements and accounting 
estimates that are reasonable 
and prudent
  state whether applicable ifrss as 
adopted by the european union have 
been followed subject to any material 
departures disclosed and explained 
in the financial statements and
  prepare the financial statements on 
the going concern basis unless it is 
inappropriate to presume that the 
company will continue in business
the directors are responsible for keeping 
adequate accounting records that are 
sufficient to show and explain the company’ s 
transactions and disclose with reasonable 
accuracy at any time the financial position 
of the company and the group and enable 
them to ensure that the financial statements 
and the directors’ remuneration report 
comply with the companies act 2006 and 
as regards the group financial statements 
article 4 of the ias regulation they are 
also responsible for safeguarding the assets 
of the company and the group 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 company’s 
website legislation in the united kingdom 
governing the preparation and dissemination 
of financial statements may differ from 
legislation in other jurisdictions 
the directors consider that the annual 
report and accounts taken as a whole 
is fair balanced and understandable and 
provides the information necessary for 
shareholders to assess a company’s 
performance business model and strategy
each of the directors whose names and 
functions are listed in the biographies on 
pages 38 and 39 confirm that to the best 
of their knowledge
  the group financial statements which have 
been prepared in accordance with ifrss 
as adopted by the eu give a true and 
fair view of the assets liabilities financial 
position and profit of the group and
  the directors’ report on pages 69 to 71 
and the financial review and the risk 
management sections on pages 24 to 28 
of the strategic report include a fair 
review of the development and 
performance of the business and the 
position of the group together with a 
description of the principal risks and 
uncertainties that it faces
each director in office at the date the 
directors’ report is approved confirms that
a  so far as the director is aware there 
is no relevant audit information of 
which the company’s auditor is 
unaware and
b  heshe has taken all the steps that he 
ought to have taken as a director in 
order to make himselfherself aware 
of any relevant audit information and to 
establish that the company’s auditor is 
aware of that information
by order of the board
mike redmond 
chairman
jeff iliffe
chief financial officer
8 september 2014 text to be supplied
financial statements
  independent auditor’s report – page 73
  consolidated income 
statement – page 77
  consolidated statement of 
comprehensive income – page 78
  reconciliation of adjusted 
financial measures – page 78
  balance sheets – page 79
  consolidated statement of changes 
in equity – page 80
  company statement of changes 
in equity – page 81
  cash flow statements – page 82
  notes to the financial statements 
– page 83
  corporate directory 
shareholder information – inside back cover
in this section
72
abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014 annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
73
independent auditor’s report 
to the members of abcam plc
report on the financial statements
our opinion
in our opinion
  the financial statements defined below 
give a true and fair view of the state of 
the group’s and of the company’s affairs 
as at 30 june 2014 and of the group’s 
profit and the group’s and the company’s 
cash flows for the year then ended
  the group financial statements have 
been properly prepared in accordance 
with international financial reporting 
standards ifrss as adopted by the 
european union
  the company financial statements have 
been properly prepared in accordance 
with international financial reporting 
standards ifrss as adopted by the 
european union and as applied in 
accordance with the provisions of 
the companies act 2006 and
  the financial statements have been 
prepared in accordance with the 
requirements of the companies act 2006
this opinion is to be read in the context of 
what we say in the remainder of this report
what we have audited
the group financial statements 
and company financial statements 
the “financial statements” which are 
prepared by abcam plc comprise
  the consolidated and company balance 
sheets as at 30 june 2014
  the consolidated income statement 
and consolidated statement of 
comprehensive income for the year 
then ended
  the reconciliation of adjusted financial 
measures for the year then ended
  the consolidated and company cash 
flow statements for the year then ended
  the consolidated and company 
statement of changes in equity for 
the year then ended and
  the notes to the financial statements 
which include a summary of significant 
accounting policies and other 
explanatory information
the financial reporting framework that 
has been applied in their preparation is 
applicable law and ifrss as adopted by 
the european union and as regards the 
company financial statements as applied 
in accordance with the provisions of the 
companies act 2006
certain disclosures required by the 
financial reporting framework have been 
presented elsewhere in the annual report 
and accounts the “annual report” 
rather than in the notes to the financial 
statements these are cross referenced 
from the financial statements and are 
identified as audited
what an audit of financial 
statements involves
we conducted our audit in accordance 
with international standards on auditing 
uk and ireland ‘isas uk  ireland’ 
an audit involves obtaining evidence about 
the amounts and disclosures in the financial 
statements sufficient to give reasonable 
assurance that the financial statements are 
free from material misstatement whether 
caused by fraud or error this includes an 
assessment of 
  whether the accounting policies are 
appropriate to the group’s and the 
company’s circumstances and have 
been consistently applied and 
adequately disclosed 
  the reasonableness of significant 
accounting estimates made by the 
directors and
  the overall presentation of the 
financial statements 
in addition we read all the financial and 
nonfinancial information in the annual 
report to identify material inconsistencies 
with the audited financial statements and 
to identify any information that is apparently 
materially incorrect based on or materially 
inconsistent with the knowledge acquired 
by us in the course of performing the audit 
if we become aware of any apparent 
material misstatements or inconsistencies 
we consider the implications for our report
overview of our audit approach
materiality
we set certain thresholds for materiality 
these helped us to determine the nature 
timing and extent of our audit procedures 
and to evaluate the effect of misstatements 
both individually and on the financial 
statements as a whole
based on our professional judgement 
we determined materiality for the group 
financial statements as a whole to be 
£2178000 this represents approximately 
5 of profit before tax being in our view 
a relevant measure of performance of the 
group that provides a reasonable ongoing 
benchmark for our audit 
we agreed with the audit committee that 
we would report to them misstatements 
identified during our audit above £108900 
as well as misstatements below that 
amount that in our view warranted 
reporting for qualitative reasons
overview of the scope of the audit
the group financial statements are a 
consolidation of 12 reporting units 
comprising the group’s operating 
businesses and holding companies
our group audit focused on the two largest 
reporting units of the group abcam plc 
and abcam inc which contribute 72 
of the group’s third party revenue and 
more than 82 of the group’s third party 
expenses we performed full scope audit 
procedures at abcam plc and abcam inc 
we also performed audit procedures over 
goodwill and other intangible assets as 
well as certain account balances and 
transaction classes at four further group 
reporting units utilising a riskbased 
approach substantially all audit work in 
respect of the group financial statements 
was performed by the group engagement 
team with the assistance of auditors from 
other pwc network firms in respect of audit 
procedures over specific account balances 
or transaction classes at certain group 
reporting units
areas of particular audit focus
in preparing the financial statements 
the directors made a number of subjective 
judgements for example in respect of 
significant accounting estimates that involved 
making assumptions and considering future 
events that are inherently uncertain 
we primarily focused our work in these areas 
by assessing the directors’ judgements 
against available evidence forming our own 
judgements and evaluating the disclosures 
in the financial statements
in our audit we tested and examined 
information using sampling and other 
auditing techniques to the extent we 
considered necessary to provide a 
reasonable basis for us to draw conclusions 
we obtained audit evidence through testing 
the effectiveness of controls substantive 
procedures or a combination of both 
we considered the following areas to be 
those that required particular focus in the 
current year this is not a complete list of 
all risks or areas of focus identified by our 
audit we discussed these areas of focus 
with the audit committee their report on 
those matters that they considered to be 
significant issues in relation to the financial 
statements is set out on pages 46 to 48 abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
74
independent auditor’s report c ontinued
to the members of abcam plc
report on the financial statements continued
overview of our audit approach continued
areas of particular audit focus continued
area of focus how the scope of our audit addressed the area of focus
fraud in revenue recognition
under isas uk  ireland there is a presumed 
risk of fraud in revenue recognition for every 
audit because of the pressure management 
may feel to achieve the planned results we 
focused on obtaining evidence that revenue 
recorded represented genuine sales of goods 
and royalties earned during the year
we understood and evaluated the relevant it systems and the internal controls 
over the completeness accuracy and timing of revenue recognised
we employed data analysis techniques to match revenue transactions with 
postings to accounts receivable and cash receipts to check that the transactions 
had occurred in the year we performed detailed testing on a sample of journal 
entries that did not match the usual transaction flow to validate unusual or 
irregular items
we tested a sample of transactions recorded in the two weeks either side of the 
year end to check whether revenue had been recorded in the correct year
inventory provision
the group’s inventory provision is calculated 
by comparing the quantity of each item held 
at the year end with forecast sales of that 
product over a number of years the 
calculation involves significant judgement 
because it relies on the directors’ projections 
of future sales
we understood and assessed the methodology utilised to estimate the group’s 
inventory provision and checked that the calculation of the provision was 
mathematically accurate and in accordance with the group’s policy 
we assessed the reasonableness of the directors’ future sales forecasts by 
considering whether projected levels of sales growth were supported by historic 
trends or specific factors relevant to the product in question
we also performed sensitivity analysis on the forecast future sales having ascertained 
the change that would be required to materially affect the determined provision 
we considered the likelihood of a change of this magnitude 
we also understood and evaluated the rationale for any yearonyear change 
in the inventory provision as a percentage of the gross inventory balance
valuation of inventory manufactured 
inhouse and hybridomas capitalised 
as property plant and equipment
inventory manufactured inhouse is 
valued using a standard cost on a firstin 
firstout basis the group capitalises within 
property plant and equipment the costs 
of producing hybridomas
as part of the standard cost of inventory 
an element of labour costs and overheads 
is allocated to the inventory valuation 
the allocation is based on the proportion 
of batches produced that pass internal quality 
tests the calculation of cost therefore involves 
a level of complexity as the manufacturing 
process results in inherent fluctuations in the 
proportion of batches which pass such tests 
we evaluated whether appropriate costs had been capitalised as inventory and 
property plant and equipment including checking on a sample basis the labour 
costs capitalised 
we also checked the mathematical accuracy of the calculations taking into 
account the proportion of batches passing quality tests and that only reasonable 
categories of overheads were absorbed into inventory and capitalised as property 
plant and equipment 
 
impairment of goodwill 
and intangible assets
the group has significant goodwill and 
intangible asset balances arising principally from 
its acquisitions of epitomics ascent scientific 
and mitosciences the group is required to 
assess such balances for impairment annually 
and this requires judgement in determining the 
group’s cashgenerating units developing 
projections of future cash flows and estimating 
the appropriate discount rate to apply 
see note 12 for further information
we understood and assessed the directors’ determination of the group’s 
cashgenerating units and the assets liabilities and income allocated to them
we reviewed management’s cash flow projections reconciling them to the latest 
boardapproved budgets and tested the accuracy of the underlying calculations 
we challenged
•  the directors’ key assumptions for the longterm growth rates in the forecasts 
by comparing them to external analyst forecasts and
•  the discount rate used by comparing to our own estimate of the cost of capital 
of the group
we further performed sensitivity analysis around the key assumptions including 
forecast revenue growth and discount rates used in the forecasts and 
considered the likelihood of such changes in the assumptions arising annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
75
area of focus how the scope of our audit addressed the area of focus
risk of management override 
of internal controls
isas uk  ireland require that we consider this
we examined the significant estimates and judgements relevant to the financial 
statements for evidence of bias by management
in particular as noted above we challenged management over the estimates 
and judgements made in respect of the inventory provision and the annual 
goodwill impairment review 
we also performed testing over manual journal entries
going concern
the directors have voluntarily complied 
with listing rule 986r3 of the financial 
conduct authority and provided a statement 
in relation to going concern set out on page 
70 required for companies with a premium 
listing on the london stock exchange
the directors have requested that we 
review the statement on going concern 
as if the company were a premium listed 
company we have nothing to report 
having performed our review
as noted in the directors’ statement 
the directors have concluded that it 
is appropriate to prepare the financial 
statements using the going concern basis 
of accounting the going concern basis 
presumes that the group and company 
have adequate resources to remain in 
operation and that the directors intend 
them to do so for at least one year from 
the date the financial statements were 
signed as part of our audit we have 
concluded that the directors’ use of the 
going concern basis is appropriate
however because not all future events 
or conditions can be predicted these 
statements are not a guarantee as to the 
group’s and company’s ability to continue 
as a going concern
opinion on other matter prescribed 
by the companies act 2006
in our opinion the information given in the 
strategic report and the directors’ report 
for the financial year for which the financial 
statements are prepared is consistent with 
the financial statements
opinions on additional 
disclosures
directors’ remuneration report
the company voluntarily prepares 
a directors’ remuneration report in 
accordance with the provisions of the 
companies act 2006 the directors have 
requested that we audit the part of the 
directors’ remuneration report specified 
by the companies act 2006 to be audited 
as if the company were a quoted company
in our opinion the part of the directors’ 
remuneration report to be audited has 
been properly prepared in accordance 
with the companies act 2006
corporate governance statement
the company voluntarily prepares a 
corporate governance statement that 
includes the information with respect to 
internal control and risk management systems 
and about share capital structures required by 
the disclosure rules and transparency rules 
of the financial conduct authority 
the directors have requested that we 
report on the consistency of that information 
with the financial statements 
in our opinion the information given in the 
corporate governance statement set out 
on pages 43 to 45 with respect to internal 
control and risk management systems and 
about share capital structures is consistent 
with the financial statements
other matters on which we are 
required to report by exception
adequacy of accounting 
records and information 
and explanations received
under the companies act 2006 we are 
required to report to you if in our opinion
  we have not received all the information 
and explanations we require for our 
audit or
  adequate accounting records have not 
been kept by the company or returns 
adequate for our audit have not been 
received from branches not visited by 
us or
  the company financial statements are 
not in agreement with the accounting 
records and returns
we have no exceptions to report arising 
from this responsibility
directors’ remuneration
under the companies act 2006 we are 
required to report to you if in our opinion 
certain disclosures of directors’ remuneration 
specified by law are not made we have 
no exceptions to report arising from 
this responsibility 
corporate governance statement
the directors have chosen to voluntarily 
comply with the uk corporate governance 
code ‘the code’ as if the company were 
a premium listed company on page 71 of 
the annual report as required by the code 
provision c11 the directors state that they 
consider the annual report taken as a whole 
to be fair balanced and understandable and 
provides the information necessary for 
members to assess the group’s and 
company’ s performance business model 
and strategy on page 47 as required by 
c38 of the code the audit committee 
has set out the significant issues that it 
considered in relation to the financial 
statements and how they were addressed 
under isas uk  ireland we are required 
to report to you if in our opinion 
  the statement given by the directors is 
materially inconsistent with our knowledge 
of the group and company acquired in 
the course of performing our audit or
  the section of the annual report 
describing the work of the audit 
committee does not appropriately 
address matters communicated by 
us to the audit committee
we have no exceptions to report arising 
from this responsibility
other information in the 
annual report
under isas uk  ireland we are required 
to report to you if in our opinion information 
in the annual report is
  materially inconsistent with the 
information in the audited financial 
statements or
  apparently materially incorrect based 
on or materially inconsistent with our 
knowledge of the group and company 
acquired in the course of performing 
our audit or
  otherwise misleading
we have no exceptions to report arising 
from this responsibility
report on the financial statements continued
overview of our audit approach continued
areas of particular audit focus continued abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
76
independent auditor’s report c ontinued
to the members of abcam plc
matters on which we have agreed 
to report by exception
corporate governance statement
the company’s voluntary corporate 
governance statement includes details 
of the company’s compliance with the 
uk corporate governance code the 
directors have requested that we review 
the parts of the corporate governance 
statement relating to the company’s 
compliance with the nine provisions of the 
uk corporate governance code specified 
for auditor review by the listing rules of 
the financial conduct authority as if the 
company were a premium listed company 
we have nothing to report having 
performed our review
responsibilities for the financial 
statements and the audit
our responsibilities and those 
of the directors
as explained more fully in the statement 
of directors’ responsibilities set out on 
page 71 the directors are responsible for 
the preparation of the financial statements 
and for being satisfied that they give a true 
and fair view
our responsibility is to audit and express 
an opinion on the financial statements in 
accordance with applicable law and isas 
uk  ireland those standards require 
us to comply with the auditing practices 
board’s ethical standards for auditors
this report including the opinions 
has been prepared for and only for 
the company’s members as a body in 
accordance with chapter 3 of part 16 
of the companies act 2006 and for no 
other purpose we do not in giving these 
opinions accept or assume responsibility 
for any other purpose or to any other person 
to whom this report is shown or into whose 
hands it may come save where expressly 
agreed by our prior consent in writing
simon ormiston 
senior statutory auditor
for and on behalf of 
pricewaterhousecoopers llp
chartered accountants 
and statutory auditors
cambridge
8 september 2014 annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
77
consolidated income s tatement 
for the year ended 30 june 2014
 notes 
year ended
30 june 2014
£000 
year ended
30 june 2013
£000 
revenue 5 127954 122206
cost of sales 37569 35500
gross profit 90385 86706
administration and management expenses excluding sharebased payments charge 36340 34701
sharebased payments charge 27 678 1211
total administration and management expenses 37018 35912
rd expenses excluding sharebased payments charge 9791 7766
sharebased payments charge 27 263 180
total rd expenses 10054 7946
operating profit 43313 42848
finance income 9 238 129
finance costs 9 — 83
profit before tax 43551 42894
taxation 10 9506 10236
profit for the year attributable to the owners of the parent 6 34045 32658
earnings per share 
basic 11 1712p 1652p
diluted 11 1702p 1634p abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
78
consolidated s tatement of comprehensive income 
for the year ended 30 june 2014
year ended
30 june 2014
£000 
year ended
30 june 2013
£000 
profit for the year 34045 32658
items that may be reclassified to profit or loss
movement on cash flow hedges 2491 2244
exchange differences on translation of foreign operations 11116 1510
tax relating to components of other comprehensive income 550 1304
other comprehensive expenseincome for the year 9175 570
total comprehensive income for the year 24870 33228
reconciliation of adjusted financial measures
for the year ended 30 june 2014
year ended
30 june 2014
£000 
year ended
30 june 2013
£000 
profit before tax 43551 42894
integration costs — 400
amortisation of acquisitionrelated intangible assets 3265 3282
profit before tax adjusted 46816 46576 annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
79
balance sheets
at 30 june 2014
notes
consolidated company
30 june 2014
£000
30 june 2013
£000
30 june 2014
£000
30 june 2013
£000
noncurrent assets
goodwill 12 73549 81954 — —
intangible assets 13 30176 33107 5836 4361
property plant and equipment 14 8502 7501 3835 1565
investments 15 — — 96147 95840
deferred tax asset 16 2258 5011 485 2395
loan receivable 19 — — 39133 44175
term deposits 1000 1000 1000 1000
derivative financial instruments 21 180 29 180 29
115665 128602 146616 149365
current assets
inventories 17 14753 15330 13321 15630
trade and other receivables 18 17843 17440 13248 15062
cash and cash equivalents 55278 35388 49013 25295
term deposits 584 1923 — —
availableforsale asset 20 623 703 — —
derivative financial instruments 21 1848 531 1848 531
90929 71315 77430 56518
total assets 206594 199917 224046 205883
current liabilities
trade and other payables 22 14036 14317 16526 13314
current tax liabilities 2782 2325 4145 4716
derivative financial instruments 21 14 1339 14 1339
16832 17981 20685 19369
net current assets 74097 53334 56745 37149
noncurrent liabilities
deferred tax liability 16 8841 11284 — —
derivative financial instruments 21 21 375 21 375
8862 11659 21 375
total liabilities 25694 29640 20706 19744
net assets 180900 170277 203340 186139
equity
share capital 24 401 399 401 399
share premium account 24 17692 16395 17692 16395
merger reserve 24 56513 56513 56513 56513
own shares 24 2143 1872 2143 1872
translation reserve 24 8718 2203 — —
sharebased payments reserve 24 6441 5893 6113 5370
hedging reserve 24 893 1048 893 1048
deferred tax reserve 24 98 1252 121 1022
retained earnings 109919 90542 123992 109360
total equity attributable to the owners of the parent 180900 170277 203340 186139
the financial statements on pages 77 to 112 of abcam plc registered number 3509322 were approved by the board of directors and 
authorised for issue on 8 september 2014
they were signed on its behalf by
jeff iliffe
director abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
80
consolidated s tatement of changes in equity
for the year ended 30 june 2014
share
capital
£000
share
premium 
account
£000
merger 
reserve
£000
own
shares
£000
translation
reserve
1
£000
sharebased
payments
reserve
2
£000
hedging
reserve
3
£000
deferred
tax
reserve
4
£000
retained
earnings
£000
total
equity
£000
balance as at 1 july 2013 399 16395 56513 1872 2203 5893 1048 1252 90542 170277
profit for the year — — — — — — — — 34045 34045
exchange differences 
on translation of 
foreign operations — — — — 10921 195 — — — 11116
movements on 
cash flow hedges — — — — — — 2491 — — 2491
t ax relating to components of 
other comprehensive income — — — — — — 550 — — 550
total comprehensive 
income for the year — — — — 10921 195 1941 — 34045 24870
issue of share capital 2 1297 — 484 — 198 — — — 617
own shares disposed 
of on release of shares — — — 213 — — — — 213 —
credit to equity for  
sharebased payments — — — — — 941 — 1350 — 409
payment of dividends — — — — — — — — 14455 14455
balance as at 30 june 2014 401 17692 56513 2143 8718 6441 893 98 109919 180900
share
capital
£000
share
premium 
account
£000
merger 
reserve
£000
own
shares
£000
translation
reserve
1
£000
sharebased
payments
reserve
2
£000
hedging
reserve
3
£000
deferred
tax
reserve
4
£000
retained
earnings
£000
total
equity
£000
balance as at 1 july 2012 397 15300 56513 1586 746 4449 671 2017 69706 148213
profit for the year — — — — — — — — 32658 32658 
exchange differences 
on translation of 
foreign operations — — — — 1457 53 — — — 1510 
movements on 
cash flow hedges — — — — — — 2244 — — 2244 
t ax relating to components of 
other comprehensive income — — — — — — 525 — 779 1304 
total comprehensive 
income for the year — — — — 1457 53 1719 — 33437 33228 
issue of share capital 2 1095 — 381 — — — — — 716 
own shares disposed 
of on release of shares — — — 95 — — — — 95 —
credit to equity for  
sharebased payments — — — — — 1391 — 765 — 626
payment of dividends — — — — — — — — 12506 12506 
balance as at 30 june 2013 399 16395 56513 1872 2203 5893 1048 1252 90542 170277
1 exchange differences on translation of overseas operations 
2 ifrs 2 charge for fair value of sharebased options and awards 
3 gains and losses recognised on cash flow hedges 
4 portion of deferred tax asset arising on outstanding share options and share options exercised annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
81
company statement of changes in equity
for the year ended 30 june 2014
share
capital
£000
share
premium
£000
merger 
reserve
£000
own
shares
£000
sharebased
payments
reserve
1
£000
hedging
reserve
2
£000
deferred
tax
reserve
3
£000
retained
earnings
£000
total
equity
£000
balance as at 1 july 2013 399 16395 56513 1872 5370 1048 1022 109360 186139
profit for the year — — — — — — — 29300 29300
movements on cash flow hedges — — — — — 2491 — — 2491
tax relating to components of 
other comprehensive income — — — — — 550 — — 550
total comprehensive 
income for the year — — — — — 1941 — 29300 31241
issue of share capital 2 1297 — 484 198 — — — 617
own shares disposed of on 
exercise of share options — — — 213 — — — 213 —
sharebased payments 
charge recognised on behalf 
of subsidiaries — — — — 307 — — — 307
credit to equity for  
sharebased payments — — — — 634 — 1143 — 509
payment of dividends — — — — — — — 14455 14455
balance as at 30 june 2014 401 17692 56513 2143 6113 893 121 123992 203340
share
capital
£000
share
premium
£000
merger 
reserve
£000
own
shares
£000
sharebased
payments
reserve
1
£000
hedging
reserve
2
£000
deferred
tax
reserve
3
£000
retained
earnings
£000
total
equity
£000
balance as at 1 july 2012 397 15300 56513 1586 4386 671 1787 68727 146195
profit for the year
4
— — — — — — — 52524 52524
movements on cash flow hedges — — — — — 2244 — — 2244
tax relating to components of 
other comprehensive income — — — — — 525 — 710 1235
total comprehensive 
income for the year — — — — — 1719 — 53234 51515
issue of share capital 2 1095 — 381 — — — — 716
own shares disposed of on 
exercise of share options — — — 95 — — — 95 —
credit to equity for  
sharebased payments — — — — 984 — 765 — 219
payment of dividends — — — — — — — 12506 12506
balance as at 30 june 2013 399 16395 56513 1872 5370 1048 1022 109360 186139
1 ifrs 2 charge for fair value of sharebased options and awards 
2 gains and losses recognised on cash flow hedges 
3 portion of deferred tax asset arising on outstanding share options and share options exercised
4  profit for the prior year includes £13973000 of nondistributable earnings relating to the gain on disposal resulting from an intragroup transfer of a subsidiary undertaking 
see note 15 for further details abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
82
cash flow statements
for the year ended 30 june 2014
notes
consolidated company
30 june 2014
£000
30 june 2013
£000
30 june 2014
£000
30 june 2013
£000
profit before tax 43551 42894 37840 41923
finance income 238 129 3361 1902
finance costs — 83 22 200
operating profit for the year 43313 42848 34501 40221
adjustments for
depreciation of property plant and equipment 14 1882 1990 852 871
amortisation of intangible assets 13 4831 3838 1767 774
impairment loss on intangible assets 13 454 — 454 —
change in fair value of derivatives outstanding at year end 655 99 655 99
sharebased payments charge 27 941 1391 634 984
operating cash flows before movements in working capital 50766 49968 37553 42751
decreaseincrease in inventories 252 1288 2309 2091
increasedecrease in receivables 280 4493 6575 6584
increasedecrease in payables 508 4625 1719 280
cash generated by operations 51246 51388 48156 33796
income taxes paid 9948 11872 8926 8574
finance costs paid — 82 — 200
net cash inflow from operating activities 41298 39434 39230 25022
investing activities
investment income 231 115 3318 1934
proceeds on disposal of property plant and equipment — 8 — —
purchase of property plant and equipment 3828 3675 1500 963
purchase of intangible assets 3647 3548 3492 3513
acquisition of subsidiaries net of cash and term deposits acquired — 42 — 42
dividends received — — — 6558
decrease in term deposits 1187 520 — —
net cash used inarising from investing activities 6057 6538 1674 4058
financing activities
dividends paid 25 14455 12506 14455 12506
proceeds on issue of shares 617 716 617 716
net cash used in financing activities 13838 11790 13838 11790
net increase in cash and cash equivalents 21403 21106 23718 17290
cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year 35388 14037 25295 8005
effect of foreign exchange rates 1513 245 — —
cash and cash equivalents at end of year 55278 35388 49013 25295
reconciliation to total cash and cash equivalents and term deposits
consolidated company
30 june 2014
£000
30 june 2013
£000
30 june 2014
£000
30 june 2013
£000
cash and cash equivalents 55278 35388 49013 25295
term deposits noncurrent 1000 1000 1000 1000
term deposits current 584 1923 — —
total cash and cash equivalents and term deposits 56862 38311 50013 26295 annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
83
notes to the financial s tatements
for the year ended 30 june 2014
1 general information
abcam plc the company is incorporated in the uk under the companies act 2006 the address of the registered office 
is 330 cambridge science park milton road cambridge cb4 0fl uk
the group is a producer and distributor of highquality researchgrade antibodies and associated protein research tools 
the group operates through its ultimate parent company abcam plc and through its wholly owned subsidiaries abcam inc abcam kk 
abcam hong kong limited ascent scientific limited abcam trading shanghai co limited epitomics inc epitomics hangzhou 
biotechnology co limited and mitosciences inc allowing it to serve a global customer base of over 100 countries
2 adoption of new and revised standards
standards affecting the financial statements
in the current year the following new and revised standards and interpretations have been adopted and have affected the amounts 
reported in these financial statements
ifrs 13 fair value measurement this standard aims to improve consistency and reduce complexity by providing a precise definition 
of fair value and a single source of fair value measurement and disclosure requirements for use across ifrss
standards not affecting the reported results nor the financial position
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 and in some cases had not yet been adopted by the eu
ifrs 9 financial instruments
ifrs 10 consolidated financial statements
ifrs 12 disclosure of interests in other entities
ifrs 15 revenue from contracts with customers
ias 16 amended property plant and equipment
ias 27 revised separate financial statements
ias 36 amended impairment of assets
ias 38 amended intangible assets
amendments to ifrs 7 and ias 32 offsetting financial assets and financial liabilities
the directors do not expect that the adoption of these standards and interpretations in future periods will have a material impact 
on the financial statements of the group
3 significant accounting policies
basis of accounting
the annual financial statements of abcam plc are prepared in accordance with international financial reporting standards ifrs and 
ifrs interpretations committee ifrs ic interpretations as adopted by the european union and the companies act 2006 applicable 
to companies reporting under ifrs and comply with article 4 of the eu ias regulation
after making enquiries the directors have a reasonable expectation that the group has adequate resources to continue in operational 
existence for the foreseeable future for this reason they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements
the financial statements have been prepared on the historical cost basis except for the revaluation of certain financial instruments 
the group financial statements are presented in sterling and all values are rounded to the nearest thousand pounds £000 except 
when otherwise indicated 
the accounting policies adopted in the preparation of the financial statements are consistent with those followed in the preparation 
of the statements for the year ended 30 june 2013 except where disclosed otherwise in this note
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
subsidiaries are fully consolidated from the date on which control is transferred to the group they are deconsolidated from the date that 
control ceases where necessary adjustments are made to the financial statements of subsidiaries to bring the accounting policies in line 
with those used by the group all intragroup transactions balances income and expenses are eliminated on consolidation  abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
84
notes to the financial s tatements continued
for the year ended 30 june 2014
3 significant accounting policies continued
business combinations
business combinations are accounted for using the acquisition method the consideration transferred for the acquisition of a subsidiary 
is the fair values at the date of exchange of the assets transferred the liabilities incurred and the equity interests issued by the group 
acquisitionrelated costs are expensed as incurred
identifiable assets acquired and liabilities and contingent liabilities assumed in a business combination that meet the recognition criteria 
under ifrs 3 2008 are measured at their fair values at the date of acquisition except that
  deferred tax assets or liabilities and liabilities or assets related to employee benefit arrangements are recognised and measured 
in accordance with ias 12 income taxes and ias 19 employee benefits respectively
  liabilities or equity instruments relating to the replacement by the group of an acquiree’s sharebased payment awards are measured 
in accordance with ifrs 2 sharebased payment and
  assets or disposal groups that are classified as held for sale in accordance with ifrs 5 noncurrent assets held for sale and 
discontinued operations are measured as per that standard
investments in subsidiaries are accounted for at cost less impairment where applicable cost is adjusted to reflect changes in 
consideration arising from contingent consideration amendments 
the directors have reconsidered the treatment adopted in 201011 and 201112 and have concluded that the option to recognise share 
premium on shares issued as part consideration for acquisitions was not available therefore merger relief has been applied with the merger 
reserve being created however as there is no impact on net assets profit or cash flows balance sheets as at 30 june 2012 have not 
been presented
goodwill
goodwill represents the excess of the cost of an acquisition over the fair value of the group’s share of the net identifiable assets 
of the acquired subsidiary at the date of acquisition goodwill is reviewed and tested annually for impairment and carried at cost less 
accumulated impairment losses impairment losses on goodwill are not reversed in subsequent periods gains and losses on the 
disposal of an entity include the carrying amount of goodwill relating to the entity sold
goodwill is allocated to cashgenerating units for the purpose of impairment testing the allocation is made to those cashgenerating 
units or groups of cashgenerating units that are expected to benefit from the business combination in which the goodwill arose 
cashgenerating units to which goodwill has been allocated are tested for impairment annually or more frequently when there is 
an indication that the unit may be impaired if the recoverable amount of the cashgenerating unit is less than the carrying amount 
of the unit the impairment loss is allocated first to reduce the carrying amount of any goodwill allocated to the unit and then to the 
other assets of the unit prorata on the basis of the carrying amount of each asset in the unit
in accordance with ias 21 goodwill arising on the acquisition of a foreign operation and any fair value adjustments to the carrying 
amounts of assets and liabilities arising on the acquisition of that foreign operation are treated as assets and liabilities of that foreign 
operation and as such are translated at the relevant foreign exchange rate at the balance sheet date
revenue and income 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 salesrelated taxes
sales of goods are recognised when goods are despatched and title has passed
custom service revenue is recognised proportionately when the outcome of each discrete stage of the contract can be estimated reliably 
and is based on the stage of completion of the contract activity per agreed milestones set out in the contract where the outcome cannot 
be estimated reliably revenue is recognised to the extent of costs incurred where it is probable these will be recovered in instances where 
it is probable that the costs will be in excess of the contract revenue the expected loss is recognised as an expense immediately
licence fee income is recognised on delivery of the licensed technology where the group’s continued performance or future research 
and development services are not required payments received prior to this are recorded as deferred income
royalty revenue is recognised based on the contractual terms and the substance of the agreements with the counterparty
interest income is accrued on a time basis by reference to the principal outstanding and the effective interest rate applicable which is the 
rate that exactly discounts estimated future cash receipts through the expected life of the financial asset to that asset’s net carrying amount
dividend income from investments is recognised when the shareholders’ rights to receive payment have been established
revenue derived from the company’s conferences is recognised when the conference is held however it is not material
leasing
leases are classified as finance 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 as an incentive to enter into an operating lease are also spread on a straightline basis over the lease term annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
85
3 significant accounting policies continued
foreign currencies
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 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 nonmonetary 
items carried at fair value that are denominated in foreign currencies 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
exchange differences are recognised in profit or loss in the period in which they arise except for
  exchange differences on transactions entered into to hedge certain foreign currency risks see below under financial instrumentshedge 
accounting and
  exchange differences on monetary items receivable from or payable to a foreign operation for which settlement is neither planned 
nor likely to occur which form part of the net investment in a foreign operation and which are recognised in the foreign currency 
translation reserve and recognised in profit or loss on disposal of the net investment
for the purpose of presenting consolidated financial statements the results of the operations of the company’s overseas subsidiaries 
are translated at the monthly exchange rates during the period and their balance sheets at the rates prevailing 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
retirement benefit costs
payments to defined contribution retirement benefit schemes are charged as an expense as they fall due payments made to statemanaged 
retirement benefit schemes are dealt with as payments to defined contribution schemes where the nature of the group’s obligations under 
the schemes is equivalent to those arising in a defined contribution retirement benefit scheme the group has no further obligations once 
the contributions have been paid
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 computation of 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 liabilities are recognised for taxable temporary differences arising on investments in subsidiaries except where the group is able 
to control the reversal of the temporary difference and it is probable that the temporary difference will not reverse in the foreseeable future
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 calculated at the tax rates that are expected to apply in the period when the liability is settled or the asset is realised 
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
deferred tax assets and liabilities are offset when there is a legally enforceable right to set off current tax assets against current tax 
liabilities and when they relate to income taxes levied by the same taxation authority and the group intends to settle its current tax 
assets and liabilities on a net basis abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
86
3 significant accounting policies continued
property plant and equipment
property plant and equipment are stated at cost less accumulated depreciation and any recognised impairment loss cost includes 
the original purchase price of the asset and the costs attributable to bringing the asset to its working condition for its intended use 
depreciation is charged so as to write off the cost of assets over their estimated useful lives using the straightline method on the 
following bases
office equipment fixtures and fittings two to five years 
laboratory equipment one to five years 
computer equipment three years 
hybridomas three to eight years 
motor vehicles five years
the gain or loss arising on the disposal or retirement of an asset is determined as the difference between the sales proceeds and the 
carrying amount of the asset and is recognised in income residual values of assets and their useful lives are reviewed and adjusted 
if appropriate at each balance sheet date
intangible assets
payments made to acquire software distribution rights capitalised development work and contractbased intangibles from third parties 
are capitalised at cost and amortised on a straightline basis over their estimated minimum useful lives the principal economic lives 
used for this purpose are as follows
upfront licence fees three years 
distribution rights one to ten years 
software one to five years 
contract based term of contract 
customer relationships seven to ten years 
patents technology and knowhow five to 15 years 
trade names eight years 
expenditure on development activities including internally generated intangible assets is recognised as an asset if and only if it meets 
the recognition criteria set out in ias 38 intangible assets expenditure on research activities is recognised as an expense in the period 
in which it is incurred
impairment of tangible and intangible assets excluding goodwill
at each balance sheet date the group reviews the carrying amounts of its tangible and intangible assets to determine whether there 
is any indication that those assets have suffered an impairment loss if such indication exists the recoverable amount of the asset is 
estimated in order to determine the extent of the impairment loss if any 
recoverable amount is the higher of fair value less costs to sell and value in use in assessing value in use the estimated future cash 
flows are discounted to their present value using a pretax discount rate that reflects current market assessments of the time value 
of money and the risks specific to the asset for which the estimates of future cash flows have not been adjusted
if the recoverable amount of an asset is estimated to be less than its carrying amount the carrying amount of the asset is reduced 
to its recoverable amount an impairment loss is recognised as an expense immediately 
inventories
inventories are stated at the lower of cost and net realisable value cost comprises direct materials and where applicable direct labour 
costs and an attributable portion of production overheads that have been incurred in bringing the inventories to their present location 
and  condition cost is calculated using the standard cost method net realisable value represents the estimated selling price less all 
estimated costs of completion and costs to be incurred in marketing selling and distribution provision is made for obsolete slow 
moving or defective items where appropriate
financial instruments
financial assets and financial liabilities are recognised on the group’s balance sheet when the group becomes a party to the contractual 
provisions of the instrument
availableforsale financial assets
the group has an investment in unlisted shares which is not traded in an active market but is classified as an availableforsale financial 
asset and stated at cost less any provision for impairment
trade and other receivables
trade receivables are initially recognised at fair value and subsequently held at amortised cost less provision for impairment 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 uncollectable 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
cash and cash equivalents
cash and cash equivalents comprise cash on hand and demand deposits and other shortterm highly liquid investments that are readily 
convertible to a known amount of cash and are subject to an insignificant risk of changes in value
notes to the financial s tatements continued
for the year ended 30 june 2014 annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
87
3 significant accounting policies continued
term deposits
term deposits represent bank deposits and a charitable bond all with an original maturity of over three months
financial liabilities and equity
financial liabilities and equity instruments are classified according to the substance of the contractual arrangements entered into 
an equity instrument is any contract that evidences a residual interest in the assets of the group after deducting all of its liabilities 
the accounting policies adopted for specific financial liabilities and equity instruments are set out below
trade payables
trade payables are initially recognised at fair value and subsequently held at amortised cost
equity instruments
equity instruments issued by the company are recorded at the proceeds received net of direct issue costs
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
derivatives are initially recognised at fair value at the date a derivative contract is entered into and are subsequently remeasured to their 
fair value at each balance sheet date a derivative with a positive fair value is recognised as a financial asset whereas a derivative with a 
negative fair value is recognised as a financial liability the resulting gain or loss is recognised in the income statement immediately unless 
the derivative is designated and effective as a hedging instrument in which event the timing of the recognition in the income statement 
depends on the nature of the hedge relationship
a derivative is presented as a noncurrent asset or noncurrent liability if the remaining maturity of the instrument is more than twelve months 
and it is not expected to be realised or settled within twelve months other derivatives are presented as current assets or current liabilities
hedge accounting
the group designates certain derivatives as either hedges of highly probable forecast transactions or hedges of foreign currency risk 
of firm commitments cash flow hedges
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 fair values or cash flows of the hedged item
cash flow hedges
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 and is included in the ‘administration and 
management expenses’ line of the income statement
amounts deferred in equity are recycled in the income statement in the periods when the hedged item is recognised in profit or loss 
in the same line of the income statement as the recognised hedged item
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 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 profit or loss when a forecast transaction is no longer 
expected to occur the cumulative gain or loss that was deferred in equity is recognised immediately in profit or loss
sharebased payments
the group has applied the requirements of ifrs 2 sharebased payment in accordance with ifrs 1 ifrs 2 has been applied to all 
grants of equity instruments after 7 november 2002 that were unvested at 1 july 2006
incentives in the form of shares are provided to employees under share option sip and ltip schemes equitysettled sharebased 
payments are measured at fair value excluding the effect of nonmarket based vesting conditions at the date of grant the fair value 
determined at the grant date of the equitysettled sharebased payments is expensed on a straightline basis over the vesting period 
based on the group’s estimate of the number of shares that will eventually vest
fair value of options issued under the group’s share option schemes is measured by the use of the monte carlo simulation
fair value of the awards under the group’s ltip is measured by the use of the monte carlo simulation for the tsr portion and the 
black scholes model for the eps portion
fair value of an equitysettled payment under the sip is measured as the face value of the award on the date of grant
the expected life used in the model has been adjusted based on management’s best estimate for the effects of nontransferability 
exercise restrictions and behavioural considerations charges made to the income statement in respect of sharebased payments 
are credited to the sharebased payments reserve
at the end of each reporting period the group revises its estimates of the number of options that are expected to vest based on 
the nonmarket vesting conditions it recognises the impact of the revision to original estimates if any in the income statement 
with a corresponding adjustment to equity abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
88
3 significant accounting policies continued
sharebased payments continued
the grant by the company of options over its equity instruments to the employees of subsidiary undertakings in the group is treated 
as a capital contribution the fair value of employee services received measured by reference to the grant date fair value is recognised 
over the vesting period as an increase to investment in subsidiary undertakings with a corresponding credit to equity in the parent 
entity accounts
when the options are exercised the company issues new shares the proceeds received net of any directly attributable transaction 
costs are credited to share capital nominal value and share premium
the group operates an employee share benefit trust as part of its incentive plans for ukbased employees all assets and liabilities 
of the trust are recorded in the balance sheet as assets and liabilities of the company until such time as the assets are awarded to 
the beneficiaries all income and expenditure of the trust is similarly brought into the results of the company
own shares
own equity instruments which are acquired are recognised at cost and deducted from equity no gain or loss is recognised in the 
income statement on the purchase sale issue or cancellation of the group’s own equity instruments any difference between the 
carrying amount and the consideration is recognised in reserves
4 critical accounting judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty
in the application of the group’s accounting policies which are described in note 3 the directors are required to make judgements 
estimates and assumptions about the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities as at the date of reporting the financial statements 
and the reported amounts of revenues and expenditure during the year these estimates and judgements are continually evaluated 
and based on historical experiences and other factors including expectations of future events that are believed to be reasonable 
under the circumstances prevailing at that time 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 goodwill and 
other intangible assets and other similar evaluations actual amounts may differ from those estimates
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 significant 
risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next financial year are discussed below
impairment of intangibles
as part of the business combinations the group acquired the following intangible assets licence fees customer relationships patents 
trade names technology and knowhow further to this the group capitalises it development costs relating to the rebuilding of the group’s 
it core systems since these costs meet the recognition criteria of ias 38 the group reviews the carrying amount of all intangible assets 
held at each balance sheet date and an impairment was considered necessary for a specific it project not considered appropriate for 
use in the business an impairment of the carrying value of £454000 has been recognised in the year 2013 £nil
impairment of goodwill
the group determines whether goodwill is impaired on at least an annual basis or more frequently when there are indications of possible 
impairment the impairment review requires a value in use calculation of the cashgenerating units to which the goodwill is allocated 
in estimating the value in use management is required to make an estimate of the expected future cash flows attributable to the  
cashgenerating unit and to choose an appropriate discount rate to calculate the present value of those cash flows the carrying 
amount of goodwill at 30 june 2014 was £73549000 2013 £81954000 further details are given in note 12
property plant and equipment and intangible assets carrying value 
property plant and equipment and intangible assets excluding goodwill represent 187 2013 203 of the group’s total assets 
estimates and assumptions made may have a material impact on their carrying value and related depreciation and amortisation charge 
see note 13 ‘intangible assets’ and note 14 ‘property plant and equipment’ for further details
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 and 
normal levels of activity
provision for slow moving or defective inventory
the provision for slow moving inventory is based on management’s estimation of the future sales of each of the group’s products over 
the next five years or period from the balance sheet date to the expiry date of the product whichever is the shorter taking into account 
actual sales of those products in previous years and applying an assumed growth rate based on historical trends where available
should forecast sales incorporating the projected growth rates differ from those estimated by management both the level of provision 
against existing inventory and the rates of provision applied to inventory in future periods would need to be revised
notes to the financial s tatements continued
for the year ended 30 june 2014 annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
89
4 critical accounting judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty continued
key sources of estimation uncertainty continued
provisions for income taxes
the group is subject to income taxes in various jurisdictions significant judgement is employed to determine the income tax provision on 
a global basis there are numerous transactions and calculations for which the ultimate tax determination is uncertain during the ordinary 
course of business the group recognises liabilities for anticipated tax audit issues based on estimates of whether additional taxes will 
be due where the final tax outcome of these matters differs from amounts initially recorded such differences will impact the income tax 
and deferred tax provisions in the period in which such determination is made
5 operating segments
products and services from which reportable segments derive their revenues 
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 the information 
reported to the group’ s chief executive officer who is considered the chief operating decision maker for the purposes of resource allocation 
and assessment of performance is based wholly on the overall activities of the group the group has therefore determined that it has 
only one reportable segment under ifrs 8 which is ‘sales of antibodies and related products’ the group’s revenue and results and 
assets for this one reportable segment can be determined by reference to the group’s income statement and balance sheet
the group has no individual product or customer which comprises more than 10 of its revenues
geographical information
the group’s revenue from external customers and information about its noncurrent segment assets excluding deferred tax and derivative 
financial instruments by geographical location is detailed below
revenue noncurrent assets
year ended
30 june 2014
£000
year ended
30 june 2013
£000
as at
30 june 2014
£000
as at
30 june 2013
£000
us 55210 53399 92493 107233
japan 11462 12594 71 109
germany 9350 8393 — — 
uk 9400 8314 19622 15187
china 7315 6544 1032 1010 
other countries 35217 32962 9 23
127954 122206 113227 123562
revenues are attributed to countries on the basis of the customer’s location no country included within ‘other countries’ contributes 
more than 5 of the group’s total revenue
6 profit for the year
profit for the year has been arrived at after chargingcrediting
notes 
year ended 
30 june 2014
£000 
year ended 
30 june 2013
£000 
foreign exchange differences arising on financial instruments at fair value through profit or loss 655 99
other net foreign exchange differences 1004 848
rd expenditure including amortisation as detailed below 10054 7946
operating lease rentals – land and buildings 23 2600 2180
depreciation of property plant and equipment 14 1882 1990
amortisation of intangible assets included within administration and management expenses 13 1566 556
amortisation of acquisitionrelated intangible assets included within administration 
and management expenses 13 1517 1525
impairment loss on intangible assets 13 454 —
amortisation of acquisitionrelated intangible assets included within rd expenditure 13 1748 1757
cost of inventories recognised as an expense 35872 33411
write down of inventories recognised as an expense 1697 2088
staff costs 8 26239 24372
impairment gainloss recognised on trade receivables 18 101 18
auditor’s remuneration 7 138 293 abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
90
7 auditor’s remuneration
a detailed analysis of the auditor’s remuneration on a worldwide basis is provided below
year ended 
30 june 2014
£000 
year ended 
30 june 2013
£000 
fees payable to the company’s auditor for the audit of the parent company and the consolidation 95 96
total audit fees 95 96
– auditrelated assurance services
1
20 20
– audit of the company’s subsidiaries pursuant to legislation 10 4
– taxation compliance services — 65
– other taxation advisory services — 98
– other assurance services — 10
– other services 13 —
total other services fees 43 197
total auditor’s remuneration 138 293
1 this relates to the interim review
the auditor’s remuneration for the year ended 30 june 2014 relates to pricewaterhousecoopers llp following its appointment as auditor 
during the year the comparatives relate to the previous auditor deloitte llp  details on the company’s policy on the use of the auditor 
for other services are set out in the audit committee report 
8 employees and remuneration
the average monthly number of employees including executive directors was
group
year ended
30 june 2014
number 
year ended
30 june 2013
number 
management administrative marketing and distribution 437 400
laboratory 297 290
734 690
their aggregate remuneration comprised
group
year ended
30 june 2014
£000 
year ended
30 june 2013
£000
wages and salaries 21644 20007
social security costs 3231 2431
other pension costs 1207 977
charge in respect of share options and awards granted 941 1391
total staff costs 27023 24806
staff costs capitalised
1
784 434
net staff costs 26239 24372
1  £784000 2013 £434000 relates to group staff costs directly attributable to the rebuild of the it core systems being capitalised as part of an internally generated intangible 
asset under ias 38 see note 13
the remuneration of the directors is set out in the directors’ remuneration report on pages 51 to 68
9 net finance income
year ended 
30 june 2014
£000 
year ended 
30 june 2013
£000 
interest on cash and term deposits 238 129
facility fees — 83
net finance income 238 46
notes to the financial s tatements continued
for the year ended 30 june 2014 annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
91
10 taxation
note
year ended 
30 june 2014
£000 
year ended 
30 june 2013
£000 
current tax 9984 10084
deferred tax 16 478 152
9506 10236
uk corporation tax is calculated at 225 2013 237 of the estimated assessable profit for the year taxation for other jurisdictions is 
calculated at the rates prevailing in the respective jurisdictions
the finance act 2013 which provided for a reduction in the main rate of uk corporation tax to 21 effective from 1 april 2014 and a further 
reduction to 20 from 1 april 2015 was substantively enacted in july 2013 this further rate reduction has been reflected in the calculation 
of deferred tax at the balance sheet date
the charge for the year can be reconciled to the profit per the income statement as follows
year ended 
30 june 2014
£000 
year ended 
30 june 2014
 
year ended 
30 june 2013
£000 
year ended 
30 june 2013
 
profit before tax 43551 42894
tax at the uk corporation tax rate of 225 2013 237 9799 225 10188 238
effect of different tax rates of subsidiaries operating in different jurisdictions 563 13 502 12
tax effect of expenses that are not deductible in determining taxable profit 322 07 254 06
additional relief in relation to overseas entities 778 18 442 10
rd tax credit uplift 479 11 369 09
prior year adjustments 52 01 93 02
effect of difference between closing deferred tax rate and current tax rate 27 01 10 —
tax expense and effective rate for the year 9506 218 10236 239
11 earnings per share
the calculation of the basic and diluted eps is based on the following data
year ended
30 june 2014
£000 
year ended
30 june 2013
£000 
earnings
earnings for the purposes of basic and diluted eps being net profit attributable to owners of the parent 34045 32658
number number
number of shares
weighted average number of ordinary shares for the purposes of basic eps 198858251 197743410
effect of dilutive potential ordinary shares
– share options 1159930 2176531
weighted average number of ordinary shares for the purposes of diluted eps 200018181 199919941
basic eps is calculated by dividing the earnings attributable to the owners of the parent by the weighted average number of shares 
outstanding during the year diluted eps is calculated on the same basis as basic eps 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 sharebased options and awards granted to employees where the exercise price is less than the average 
market price of the company’s ordinary shares during the year and where it is considered performance conditions will be met abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
92
11 earnings per share continued
adjusted earnings per share
the calculation of adjusted eps excluding integration costs and amortisation of acquisitionrelated intangible assets is based on earnings of
year ended 
30 june 2014
£000 
year ended 
30 june 2013
£000 
earnings for the purposes of basic and diluted eps being net profit attributable to the owners of the parent  34045 32658
integration costs — 400
amortisation of acquisitionrelated intangible assets 3265 3282
tax effect of adjusting items 1191 1216
profit after tax excluding integration costs and amortisation of acquisitionrelated intangible assets 36119 35124
the denominators used are the same as those detailed above for both basic and diluted earnings per share 
adjusted eps after adding back acquisition costs and amortisation of associated intangible assets
year ended 
30 june 2014 
year ended 
30 june 2013 
adjusted basic eps 1816p 1776p
adjusted diluted eps 1806p 1757p
the adjusted eps information is considered to provide a fairer representation of the group’s trading performance 
12 goodwill
£000
cost
at 1 july 2012 82356
fair value adjustments during measurement period 1367
exchange differences 965
at 1 july 2013 81954
exchange differences 8405
at 30 june 2014 73549
accumulated impairment losses
at 1 july 2012 1 july 2013 and 30 june 2014 —
carrying amount
at 30 june 2012 82356
at 30 june 2013 81954
at 30 june 2014 73549
goodwill acquired in a business combination is allocated at acquisition to the cashgenerating units cgus that are expected to benefit 
from that business combination the carrying amount of goodwill has been allocated as follows
carrying value 
1 july 2013
 £000
exchange
 differences
1
£000
year ended
30 june 2014
£000
year ended
30 june 2013
£000
goodwill relating to the abcam group cgu 81954 8405 73549 81954
1 goodwill is converted at the exchange rate on the date of acquisition and retranslated to the balance sheet rate
following the acquisitions of mitosciences ascent and epitomics there has been considerable change in the way these entities 
are structured and integrated within the abcam group these changes include redirecting sales through the abcam platform and the 
centralisation of the marketing technical and operational support consequently the discrete financial information which is available 
for an individual entity does not reflect the true substance of the performance of that entity and the value being added this means it 
is not possible to accurately assess the fair value in use of the acquired entities which formerly constituted the separately identifiable 
cgus to determine whether or not there is an indication of goodwill impairment
notes to the financial s tatements continued
for the year ended 30 june 2014 annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
93
12 goodwill continued
ias 36 requires that following a reorganisation in the business which results in a change in the composition of cgus goodwill should 
be reallocated to the units affected considering the changes above in the prior year the directors considered it appropriate to reallocate 
the goodwill arising from the acquisitions to a single cgu which would reflect the reorganised business structure this cgu is tested 
for impairment on a groupwide basis using the future forecast cash flows arising from the abcam business as a whole
the group performs an annual test for goodwill impairment or more frequently if there are any indications that goodwill might be impaired
the recoverable amount of the cgu is determined from value in use calculations the key assumptions considered most sensitive 
for the value in use calculations are those regarding the discount rates growth rates and anticipated movements in selling prices 
and direct costs during the period
management has projected cash flows based on financial forecasts over a period of four years no growth rate has been used in the 
extrapolation of cash flows beyond the four years a discount rate of 11 has been estimated using pretax rates that reflect current 
market assessments of the time value of money and the risks specific to the cgu
management has performed sensitivity analysis on the key assumptions mentioned above based on the results of this analysis 
management is satisfied that the recoverable amount of goodwill exceeds its carrying amount as such no impairment of goodwill 
has been recognised at the balance sheet date
due to the headroom which exists between the recoverable amount and the carrying value there is currently no reasonable possible 
change in any of these key assumptions which would cause the cgu’s carrying amount to exceed its recoverable amount
13 intangible assets
group
upfront
licence 
fees 
£000 
distribution
rights 
£000 
software 
£000 
contract
 based
£000
assets
under
construction
£000
customer
relationships
£000
patents
technology 
and 
knowhow
£000
trade
names
£000
total
£000
cost 
at 1 july 2012 443 1474 380 3567 773 5455 22812 2236 37140
fair value adjustments — — — 115 — 665 8 214 986
additions 59 258 73 — 3248 — — — 3638
transfer to asset in use — — 3803 — 3803 — — — —
disposals 5 — 15 — — — — — 20
exchange differences — — 3 — — — — — 3
at 1 july 2013 497 1732 4244 3452 218 4790 22820 2022 39775
additions 47 229 175 — 3306 106 — — 3863
transfer to asset in use — — 3324 — 3324 — — — —
disposals 19 868 543 — — — — — 1430
exchange differences — — 8 200 — 262 1261 121 1852
at 30 june 2014 525 1093 7192 3252 200 4634 21559 1901 40356
accumulated amortisation 
at 1 july 2012 357 1274 237 266 — 134 528 47 2843
charge for the year 63 66 427 775 — 497 1757 253 3838
disposals — — 15 — — — — — 15
exchange differences — — 2 — — — — — 2
at 1 july 2013 420 1340 651 1041 — 631 2285 300 6668
charge for the year 56 152 1353 771 — 500 1748 251 4831
impairment — — 454 — — — — — 454
disposals 2 867 543 — — — — — 1412
exchange differences — — 2 100 — 55 173 31 361
at 30 june 2014 474 625 1913 1712 — 1076 3860 520 10180
carrying amount
at 30 june 2013 77 392 3593 2411 218 4159 20535 1722 33107
at 30 june 2014 51 468 5279 1540 200 3558 17699 1381 30176 abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
94
13 intangible assets continued
company
upfront 
licence fees 
£000 
distribution
rights 
£000 
software 
£000 
assets under
construction
£000
total
£000
cost 
at 1 july 2012 434 1637 338 773 3182
additions 59 490 54 3248 3851
transfer to asset in use — — 3803 3803 —
at 1 july 2013 493 2127 4195 218 7033
additions 47 229 127 3306 3709
transfer to asset in use — — 3324 3324 —
disposals 15 868 543 — 1426
at 30 june 2014 525 1488 7103 200 9316
accumulated amortisation and impairment
at 1 july 2012 356 1314 228 — 1898
charge for the year 63 303 408 — 774
at 1 july 2013 419 1617 636 — 2672
charge for the year 55 381 1331 — 1767
impairment — — 454 — 454
disposals 2 868 543 — 1413
at 30 june 2014 472 1130 1878 — 3480
carrying amount
at 30 june 2013 74 510 3559 218 4361
at 30 june 2014 53 358 5225 200 5836
the amortisation period for the upfront licence fees is three years and software is between one and five years the amortisation period 
for the distribution rights is the term of the agreement 
contractbased intangibles predominately relates to two agreements an agreement with the university of oregon under which the 
university supplies monoclonal antibodies to mitosciences which has full rights and entitlement to commercially exploit these materials 
in exchange for an ongoing fee the remaining amortisation period is eleven years being the remaining term of the agreement and an 
agreement between epitomics and loyola university chicago for access to a patent the remaining amortisation period is to february 2015 
being the expiry date of the agreement
assets under construction relate to the development of the core it systems architecture these are not amortised until being available 
for use in the business
customer relationships relates to access to new customers as part of the epitomics acquisition namely in the reagents and services 
business the remaining amortisation period is eight years in line with the history of the business
patents technology and knowhow relates to the acquired rabmab
®
 technology as part of the epitomics business the remaining 
amortisation period is 13 years being the remaining term of the primary patent
trade names relate to rabmab
®
 and epitomics the remaining amortisation period is six years
notes to the financial s tatements continued
for the year ended 30 june 2014 annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
95
14 property plant and equipment
group
computer
equipment 
£000 
laboratory
equipment 
£000 
office
equipment
fixtures
and fittings 
£000 
hybridomas 
£000 
hybridomas
under
construction
£000
motor 
vehicles
£000
total
£000
cost 
at 1 july 2012 1559 7914 2237 1404 735 96 13945
additions 329 1274 238 1343 437 52 3673
disposals 122 36 7 — 35 — 200
exchange differences — 113 28 40 25 8 214
at 1 july 2013 1766 9265 2496 2787 1162 156 17632
additions 332 710 768 1468 257 6 3541
transfer to asset in use — — — 342 342 — —
disposals 176 301 63 — — 5 545
exchange differences 57 307 197 284 133 19 997
at 30 june 2014 1865 9367 3004 4313 944 138 19631
accumulated depreciation
at 1 july 2012 1125 5619 1268 168 — 2 8182
charge for the year 277 933 456 305 — 19 1990
disposals 119 36 6 — — — 161
exchange differences 1 71 35 10 — 3 120
at 1 july 2013 1284 6587 1753 483 — 24 10131
charge for the year 312 762 476 312 — 20 1882
disposals 175 284 60 — — 5 524
exchange differences 40 143 120 52 — 5 360
at 30 june 2014 1381 6922 2049 743 — 34 11129
carrying amount
at 30 june 2013 482 2678 743 2304 1162 132 7501
at 30 june 2014 484 2445 955 3570 944 104 8502 abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
96
14 property plant and equipment continued
company
computer
equipment 
£000 
laboratory
equipment 
£000 
office
equipment
fixtures
and fittings 
£000 
hybridomas 
£000 
hybridomas 
under 
construction 
£000 
motor 
vehicles
£000 
total
£000
cost
at 1 july 2012 1104 5990 993 223 — — 8310
additions 234 491 81 61 — — 867
disposals 47 1 — — — — 48
at 1 july 2013 1291 6480 1074 284 — — 9129
additions 198 456 289 1242 945 6 3136
disposals 161 250 25 — — — 436
at 30 june 2014 1328 6686 1338 1526 945 6 11829
accumulated depreciation
at 1 july 2012 824 5102 674 139 — — 6739
charge for the year 189 400 216 66 — — 871
disposals 45 1 — — — — 46
at 1 july 2013 968 5501 890 205 — — 7564
charge for the year 210 379 149 113 — 1 852
disposals 161 236 25 — — — 422
at 30 june 2014 1017 5644 1014 318 — 1 7994
carrying amount
at 30 june 2013 323 979 184 79 — — 1565
at 30 june 2014 311 1042 324 1208 945 5 3835
15 investments in subsidiaries
the company’s subsidiaries at 30 june 2014 were
country of 
incorporation 
proportion
of shares 
held 
proportion 
of voting
power held
abcam australia pty limited australia 100 100
abcam inc us 100 100
abcam kk japan 100 100
abcam hong kong limited hong kong 100 100
abcam epitomics holdings inc us 100 100
abcam llc us 100 100
abcam trading shanghai co limited china 100 100
abcam us limited uk 100 100
abcam us group holdings inc us 100 100
ascent scientific limited uk 100 100
ascent scientific llc us 100 100
camgene limited dormant uk 100 100
epitomics inc us 100 100
epitomics hangzhou biotechnology co limited china 100 100
epitomics hong kong limited dormant hong kong 100 100
mitosciences inc us 100 100
the abcam employee share benefit trust limited uk 100 100
notes to the financial s tatements continued
for the year ended 30 june 2014 annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
97
15 investments in subsidiaries continued
analysis of changes in investments
£000
at 1 july 2012 123112
transfer of shares in subsidiary undertakings 113102
purchase of shares in subsidiary undertaking 85872
fair value adjustment to acquired subsidiary 42
at 30 june 2013 95840
capital contribution
1
307
at 30 june 2014 96147
1 the capital contribution represents sharebased payment charges for share options issued by the company to employees of its subsidiaries
following the acquisition of epitomics inc in april 2012 the group undertook a restructuring to consolidate the ownership of its 
us subsidiaries on 20 december 2012 abcam plc transferred its shareholding in epitomics inc mitosciences inc and abcam inc 
to abcam us limited an indirect subsidiary of the company 
in consideration for the shares of us subsidiaries abcam plc received total consideration of £1271m made up of shares in group 
companies of £859m and intragroup receivables of 67m see note 19 
16 deferred tax assets and liabilities
the following are the deferred tax liabilities and assets recognised by the group and company and movements thereon during the current 
and prior reporting periods
group
accelerated tax 
depreciation
£000 
cash flow 
hedges 
£000 
sharebased 
payment 
£000 
acquired 
intangible assets
£000 
other temporary
differences 
£000 
total
£000
at 30 june 2012 858 213 2776 12937 2696 8536
chargecredit to income 520 — 227 1259 1118 152
fair value adjustments 26 — — 394 2230 2650
creditcharge to equity — 525 841 — — 316
exchange differences 44 — — — 125 81
at 30 june 2013 1396 312 2162 11284 3933 6273
creditcharge to income 658 — 85 1191 1456 478
charge to equity — 550 1350 — — 1900
exchange differences 125 — — 1252 265 1112
at 30 june 2014 613 238 897 8841 2212 6583
deferred tax assets and liabilities are offset where the group has a legally enforceable right to do so the following is the analysis of the 
deferred tax balances after offset for financial reporting purposes
30 june 2014
£000
30 june 2013
£000
30 june 2012
£000
deferred tax assets 2258 5011 4401
deferred tax liabilities 8841 11284 12937
6583 6273 8536
the deferred tax liability of £8841000 2013 £11284000 has been recognised in relation to the acquired intangible assets as a result 
of the acquisitions amounts released from this liability during the period were £1191000 2013 £1259000 representing the decrease 
of the deferred tax liability in line with amortisation charged against the carrying value of the associated intangible assets  abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
98
16 deferred tax assets and liabilities continued
company
accelerated tax 
depreciation
£000 
cash flow 
hedges 
£000 
sharebased 
payment 
£000 
other temporary
differences 
£000 
total
£000
at 30 june 2012 51 213 2545 30 2413
chargecredit to income 9 — 226 5 222
creditcharge to equity — 525 765 — 240
at 30 june 2013 42 312 2006 35 2395
charge to income 70 — — 147 217
charge to equity — 550 1143 — 1693
at 30 june 2014 28 238 863 112 485
at the balance sheet date there are no aggregate temporary differences associated with undistributed earnings of subsidiaries for which 
a deferred tax liability has not been recognised 2013 £nil no temporary differences exist in the current year as a result of a change to the 
uk tax legislation which largely exempts dividends from uk tax if received on or after 1 july 2009 the directors believe that all dividends 
to be paid by the company’s subsidiaries will meet the criteria for exemption from uk tax
17 inventories
group company
30 june 2014
£000 
30 june 2013
£000 
30 june 2014
£000 
30 june 2013
£000
raw materials 834 1113 — —
work in progress 1079 739 — —
finished goods 12840 13478 13321 15630
14753 15330 13321 15630
18 financial assets
trade and other receivables
group company
30 june 2014
£000 
30 june 2013
£000 
30 june 2014
£000 
30 june 2013
£000
amounts receivable for the sale of goods 12620 11886 4124 3900
allowance for doubtful debts 479 411 196 140
12141 11475 3928 3760
amounts owed by subsidiary undertakings — — 7689 9413
other debtors 2386 4578 754 1139
prepayments 3316 1387 877 750
17843 17440 13248 15062
trade receivables
the average credit period taken for sales is 353 days 2013 345 days no interest has been 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 receivables over 90 days past due because historical experience is such that receivables that are past due beyond 
90 days are generally not recoverable trade receivables between 30 days and 90 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 no customer represents more than 5 of the total balance of trade receivables
the analysis below shows 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 neither the group 
nor company holds any collateral or other credit enhancements over these balances nor do they have a legal right to offset against any 
amounts owed to the counterparty 
notes to the financial s tatements continued
for the year ended 30 june 2014 annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
99
18 financial assets continued
trade receivables continued
ageing of past due but not impaired receivables
group company
30 june 2014
£000 
30 june 2013
£000 
30 june 2014
£000 
30 june 2013
£000
0 to 30 days overdue 2281 2532 632 877
30 to 60 days overdue 332 277 12 31
2613 2809 644 908
movement in the allowance for doubtful debts
group company
30 june 2014
£000 
30 june 2013
£000 
30 june 2014
£000 
30 june 2013
£000
balance at the beginning of the year 411 433 140 101
impairment losses recognised through the income statement 101 18 56 39
exchange differences on translation of foreign operations 33 4 — — 
balance at the end of the year 479 411 196 140
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
ageing of impaired receivables
group company
30 june 2014
£000 
30 june 2013
£000 
30 june 2014
£000 
30 june 2013
£000
0 to 30 days overdue 163 81 66 23
30 to 60 days overdue 164 201 75 77
60 to 90 days overdue 116 78 32 20
more than 90 days overdue 36 51 23 20
479 411 196 140
the directors consider that the carrying amount of trade and other receivables approximates their fair value
19 loan receivable
group company
30 june 2014
£000 
30 june 2013
£000 
30 june 2014
£000 
30 june 2013
£000
amount owed by subsidiary undertaking — — 39133 44175
the amount owed to the company represents two interestbearing loans due from abcam us group holdings inc of 33m and 34m 
interest being incurred at rates of 734 and 869 respectively the loans are repayable on 20 december 2017 and 2019 respectively 
and are unsecured the movement in the year is due to foreign exchange see note 15 for further details
20 availableforsale financial asset
30 june 2014
£000 
30 june 2013
£000
shares 623 703
as part of the epitomics acquisition the group acquired a 13 interest in plexbio co limited plexbio a privately owned biotechnology 
company headquartered in t aiwan plexbio was established to research develop and manufacture invitro diagnostic ivd kits the movement 
in the year is due to foreign exchange see note 26 for further details abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
100
21 derivative financial instruments
group and company 30 june 2014
current noncurrent
asset
£000
liability
£000
asset
£000
liability
£000 
total
£000 
derivatives that are designated and effective 
as hedging instruments carried at fair value
forward exchange contracts 862 — — — 862
derivatives carried at fair value through profit 
and loss fvtpl
forward exchange contracts that are not designated 
in hedge accounting relationships 986 14 180 21 1131
1848 14 180 21 1993
group and company 30 june 2013
current noncurrent
asset
£000
liability
£000
asset
£000
liability
£000 
total
£000 
derivatives that are designated and effective 
as hedging instruments carried at fair value
forward exchange contracts 145 1160 29 375 1361
derivatives carried at fair value through profit 
and loss fvtpl
forward exchange contracts that are not designated 
in hedge accounting relationships 386 179 — — 207
531 1339 29 375 1154
further details of derivative financial instruments are provided in note 26
22 trade and other payables
group company
30 june 2014
£000 
30 june 2013
£000 
30 june 2014
£000 
30 june 2013
£000
amounts falling due within one year
trade payables 3737 4812 3107 3930
amounts owed to subsidiary undertakings — — 7663 4579
accruals and deferred income 7986 7579 5317 4501
other taxes and social security 1534 1239 431 295
other payables 779 687 8 9
14036 14317 16526 13314
trade payables and accruals principally comprise amounts outstanding for trade purchases and ongoing costs at 30 june 2014 
the group had an average of 328 days of purchases 2013 321 days outstanding in trade payables excluding accruals and deferred 
income 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 timetable the directors consider that the carrying amount of trade 
and other payables approximates to their fair value
notes to the financial s tatements continued
for the year ended 30 june 2014 annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
101
23 commitments
year ended 
30 june 2014
£000 
year ended
30 june 2013
£000
minimum lease payments under operating leases recognised as an expense in the year
– land and buildings 2600 2180
at the balance sheet date the group and company had outstanding commitments for future minimum lease payments under  
noncancellable operating leases all of which relate to land and buildings which fall due as follows
group company
30 june 2014
£000 
30 june 2013
£000 
30 june 2014
£000 
30 june 2013
£000
within one year 2458 2251 1032 833
in the second to fifth years inclusive 5544 6227 2802 3180
after five years — 23 — —
8002 8501 3834 4013
the above table reflects the committed cash payments under operating leases rather than the expected charge to the income statement 
in the relevant periods the charge in 201415 on these operating leases is expected to be £24m for the group and £10m for the company 
there are no commitments relating to the acquisition of property plant and equipment and intangible assets 2013 £nil
24 capital and reserves
share capital
group and company
30 june
2014
£000 
30 june
2013
£000
issued and fully paid
200446300 2013 199378377 ordinary shares of 02 pence each 401 399
the movement during the year on the company’s issued and fully paid shares was as follows
2014
number
2014
£000 
2013
£000
balance at beginning of year 199378377 399 397
issue of share capital 1067923 2 2
balance at end of year 200446300 401 399
the company has one class of ordinary shares which carry no right to fixed income the share capital issued during the year arose 
from the exercise of share options
share premium
group and company
£000
balance at 1 july 2012 15300
premium arising on issue of equity shares 1095
balance at 1 july 2013 16395
premium arising on issue of equity shares 1297
balance at 30 june 2014 17692
there were no costs of issue incurred during the year or the previous year abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
102
24 capital and reserves continued
own shares
group and company
£000
balance at 1 july 2013 1872
acquired in the period 484
disposed of on exercise of options 213
balance at 30 june 2014 2143
this balance represents the cost of 981901 shares with a nominal value of £1964 in abcam plc 2013 786145 with a nominal value 
of £1572 which were issued by the company at market value and held by the abcam employee share benefit trust these shares 
are held in order to satisfy the free shares and matching shares elements of the sip  see note 27 for further details of this scheme
reserves
translation reserve
the translation reserve comprises foreign currency differences from the translation of the financial statements of foreign operations
sharebased payment reserve
the sharebased payment reserve comprises the ifrs 2 charge for the fair value of sharebased options and awards
hedging reserve
the hedging reserve comprises gains and losses recognised on cash flow hedges and the associated deferred tax assets and liabilities created
deferred tax reserve
the deferred tax reserve comprises the portion of the deferred tax arising on outstanding share options exercised and not taken to the 
income statement in accordance with ias 12
merger reserve
the merger reserve comprises the premium issued on shares allotted as consideration for acquisitions where conditions for merger relief 
are satisfied
25 dividends
year ended 
30 june 2014 
£000 
year ended
30 june 2013
£000
amounts recognised as distributions to the owners of the parent in the year
final dividend for the year ended 30 june 2013 of 510 pence 2012 436 pence per share 10187 8650
interim dividend for the year ended 30 june 2014 of 213 pence 2013 194 pence per share 4268 3856
total distributions to owners of the parent in the period 14455 12506
proposed final dividend for the year ended 30 june 2014 of 562 pence 2013 510 pence per share 11265 10168
the proposed final dividend is subject to approval of the shareholders at the agm and has not been included as a liability in these 
financial statements 
26 financial instruments
capital risk management
the group manages its capital to ensure that entities in the group will be able to continue as a going concern whilst maximising the 
return to stakeholders the capital structure of the group consists of cash and cash equivalents and equity attributable to the owners 
of the parent comprising issued capital reserves and retained earnings
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 note 3 foreign exchange contracts are measured using quoted forward exchange rates and the yield 
curves derived from quoted interest rates matching maturities of these contracts
notes to the financial s tatements continued
for the year ended 30 june 2014 annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
103
26 financial instruments continued
categories of financial instruments
group
carrying value
company
carrying value
30 june 2014
£000 
30 june 2013
£000 
30 june 2014
£000 
30 june 2013
£000
financial assets
loans and receivables
amounts owed by subsidiary undertakings — — 46822 53588
trade receivables 12141 11475 3928 3760
other receivables 1194 1282 — —
13335 12757 50750 57348
cash and cash equivalents and term deposits
cash and cash equivalents and term deposits 56862 38311 50013 26295
total financial assets 70197 51068 100763 83643
financial liabilities
other financial liabilities at amortised cost
trade and other payables
1
12502 13078 16095 13019
total financial liabilities 12502 13078 16095 13019
1 financial liabilities at amortised cost within trade and other payables consist of trade payables accruals intercompany payables and other payables
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
fair value measurements recognised in the balance sheet
financial instruments that are measured subsequent to initial recognition at fair value have been classified using a fair value hierarchy that 
reflects the significance of the inputs used in measuring the fair value of those instruments the fair value hierarchy has the following levels
  level 1 fair value measurements are those derived from quoted prices unadjusted in active markets for identical assets or liabilities
  level 2 fair value measurements are those derived from inputs other than quoted prices included within level 1 that are observable 
for the asset or liability either directly ie as prices or indirectly ie derived from prices and
  level 3 fair value measurements are those derived from valuation techniques that include inputs for the asset or liability that are not 
based on observable market data unobservable market inputs
the following table presents the group’s assets and liabilities carried at fair value by valuation method
30 june 2014
level 1
£000
level 2
£000
level 3
£000
total
£000
assets
derivative financial instruments — 2028 — 2028
availableforsale asset — — 623 623
total assets — 2028 623 2651
liabilities
derivative financial instruments — 35 — 35
total liabilities — 35 — 35
30 june 2013
level 1
£000
level 2
£000
level 3
£000
total
£000
assets
derivative financial instruments — 560 — 560
availableforsale asset — — 703 703
total assets — 560 703 1263
liabilities
derivative financial instruments — 1714 — 1714
total liabilities — 1714 — 1714
  abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
104
26 financial instruments continued
fair value measurements recognised in the balance sheet continued
there were no transfers between levels during the year
level 2 derivative financial instruments comprise forward foreign exchange contracts these forward foreign exchange contracts have 
been fair valued using forward exchange rates that are quoted in an active market 
the level 3 availableforsale asset is an unlisted equity instrument stated at cost less any provision for impairment the directors believe 
that no reasonably foreseeable changes to key assumptions would result in a significant change in fair value
the group’s finance department performs the valuations of financial assets required for financial reporting purposes including level 3 fair 
values it reports directly to the chief financial officer cfo discussions of valuation processes and results are held between the cfo 
and the valuation team at least once every six months in line with the group’s reporting dates
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 a significant 
credit risk exposure to any single counterparty ongoing credit evaluation is performed on the financial condition of trade receivables 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 yearend debtor days are 353 days 2013 345 days 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 353 days 
as well as observable changes in international or local economic conditions
the standard payment term 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 major financial institutions 
funds are split between at least two institutions the carrying amount best represents the maximum exposure to credit risk
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 us dollars 
euros and japanese yen
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 not denominated 
in the local functional currency are as follows
liabilities assets
30 june 2014
£000 
30 june 2013
£000 
30 june 2014
£000 
30 june 2013
£000
euros 96 247 4893 7020
us dollars 8824 5758 10942 11813
japanese yen 10 33 2924 3146
hong kong dollars — — 82 84
8930 6038 18841 22063
notes to the financial s tatements continued
for the year ended 30 june 2014 annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
105
26 financial instruments continued
foreign currency sensitivity analysis
the group’s principal functional currency is sterling the group is mainly exposed to fluctuations in us dollars euros and japanese yen 
exchange rates 
the following table details the group’s sensitivity to an 8 increase and decrease in the sterling exchange rate against the relevant 
foreign currencies on the group’s profit before tax and equity 8 represents management’s assessment of the reasonable possible 
change in foreign exchange rates the sensitivity analysis includes only outstanding foreign currency denominated monetary items 
and forward exchange contracts in the balance sheet at the end of the relevant accounting period and adjusts their translation at the 
period end for an 8 change in foreign currency rates it does not represent the overall impact on group profitability if the exchange 
rate sensitivity had been applied through the reporting period a positive number indicates an increase in profit or equity
us dollar currency impact euro currency impact yen currency impact
2014
£000 
2013
£000 
2014
£000 
2013
£000 
2014
£000 
2013
£000
effect of an 8 strengthening in relevant exchange rate on
profit or loss 311 448 356 501 216 231
other equity 1996 2182 2211 1840 618 631
effect of an 8 weakening in relevant exchange rate on
profit or loss 366 685 417 589 254 271
other equity 2343 2402 2593 2160 726 741
in management’s opinion the sensitivity analysis is unrepresentative of the inherent foreign exchange risk since it is limited to the year 
end exposure and does not reflect the exposure during the year
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 
out to 18 months within 30 to 95 of the exposure generated upon maturity of a forward exchange contract the group may enter 
into a new contract designated as a separate hedging relationship
foreign currency forward contracts are valued using quoted forward exchange rates and the yield curves derived from quoted interest 
rates matching maturities of the contracts
the following table details the forward exchange contracts outstanding as at the year end
outstanding contracts
average 
rate 
30 june
2014
foreign 
currency 
30 june
2014
000 
contract 
value 
30 june
2014
£000 
fair value
gain
30 june
2014
£000
sell us dollars
less than 3 months 155 10800 6951 627
3 to 6 months 167 9571 5715 111
7 to 12 months 167 20556 12279 214
13 to 18 months 168 12142 7240 86
165 53069 32185 1038
sell euros
less than 3 months 119 €6750 5653 246
3 to 6 months 122 €8369 6851 128
7 to 12 months 122 €15704 12842 201
13 to 18 months 123 €11075 9015 69
122 €41898 34361 644
sell yen
less than 3 months 15092 ¥333000 2207 281
3 to 6 months 17213 ¥350381 2036 8
7 to 12 months 17143 ¥693680 4046 18
13 to 18 months 17076 ¥391512 2293 4
16714 ¥1768573 10582 311
total of outstanding forward contracts 77128 1993 abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
106
26 financial instruments continued
forward exchange contracts continued
outstanding contracts
average 
rate 
30 june
2013
foreign 
currency 
30 june
2013
000 
contract 
value 
30 june
2013
£000 
fair value 
gainloss
30 june
2013
£000
sell us dollars
less than 3 months 157 7590 4846 151
3 to 6 months 155 10290 6620 159
7 to 12 months 155 21050 13546 331
13 to 18 months 155 10800 6951 173
156 49730 31963 814
sell euros
less than 3 months 120 €5725 4786 118
3 to 6 months 119 €6750 5668 121
7 to 12 months 119 €13500 11328 267
13 to 18 months 119 €6750 5653 154
119 €32725 27435 660
sell yen
less than 3 months 12621 ¥298645 2366 384
3 to 6 months 15132 ¥306890 2028 11
7 to 12 months 15129 ¥639420 4226 34
13 to 18 months 15092 ¥333000 2207 19
14574 ¥1577955 10827 320
total of outstanding forward contracts 70225 1154
at 30 june 2014 the fair value of contracts held as cash flow hedges is an asset of £862000 2013 liability of £1361000 
the remaining contracts are not held as cash flow hedges the gain on the financial assets at fair value through the profit 
and loss account was £655000 2013 £99000 
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 continually 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 five years at 30 june 2014 the average maturity 
of balances was 805 days 2013 693 days of fixed rate deposits not sensitive to changes in interest rates sufficient funds are readily 
available to the company to meet operational requirements
trade payables are normally payable within 30 days of invoice and the standard payment terms for intragroup receivables are 45 days
liquidity risk tables – financial liabilities
all trade and other payable balances are capital and do not include accrued interest
less than
six months
£000
between
six months
and one year
£000
total
£000
group
2014
trade and other payables 12502 — 12502
12502 — 12502
company
2014
trade and other payables 8432 — 8432
trade payables owed to subsidiary undertakings 3363 — 3363
loans payable to subsidiary undertakings — 4300 4300
11795 4300 16095
notes to the financial s tatements continued
for the year ended 30 june 2014 annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
107
26 financial instruments continued
liquidity risk tables – financial liabilities continued
less than
six months
£000
between
six months
and one year
£000
total
£000
group
2013
trade and other payables 13078 — 13078
13078 — 13078
company
2013
trade and other payables 8440 — 8440
trade payables owed to subsidiary undertakings 4579 — 4579
13019 — 13019
interest rate risk sensitivity analysis
an increase of 025 in the average interest rate during the year would have resulted in an increase in interest received by the group 
of £119000 2013 £70000 and by the company of £95000 2013 £44000 a decrease of 025 in the average interest rate during 
the year would have resulted in a reduction in interest received by the group of £119000 2013 £70000 and by the company of 
£95000 2013 £44000 there would have been no effect on equity reserves
the average cash and term deposits balance throughout the year has been used as the basis for the calculations a 025 increase 
or decrease in interest rates represents management’s assessment of the reasonable possible change in interest rates
27 sharebased payments
equitysettled share option scheme
the company operates a number of share option schemes for certain employees of the group the sharebased payments charge relates 
to option awards from the emi scheme unapproved share option plan the abcam inc share scheme the abcam 2005 share option 
scheme the abcam company share option plan csop the ltip and the sip  option grants under each scheme have been aggregated
the vesting period ranges from one to four years 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 volatility of the options is based on the average of standard deviations of daily continuous returns on abcam plc shares the dividend 
yield is based on abcam’s actual dividend yield in the past
the riskfree 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
the group recorded a total sharebased payments expense of £941000 in the year 2013 £1391000 of which £678000 2013 £1211000 
was included within administration and management expenses and £263000 2013 £180000 was included within rd expenses
summary of all schemes excluding sip and ltip
options outstanding as at 30 june 2014 had an exercise price of between 125 pence and 464 pence 2013 5 pence and 385 pence 
the weighted average remaining contractual life is 728 years 2013 716 years the weighted average fair value of the options outstanding 
at the end of the year was 6837 pence 2013 7802 pence the group recorded a total sharebased payments expense of £568000 
2013 £573000 in the year relating to all schemes excluding the sip and ltip 
2014 2013
number of 
share 
options
weighted 
average 
exercise
price
pence
weighted 
average 
share price 
at date of 
exercise 
pence 
number of 
share 
options 
weighted
average
exercise
price 
pence
weighted 
average 
share price 
at date of 
exercise 
pence 
outstanding at beginning of year 2371600 26095 — 2618082 17335 —
granted during year 687945 46400 — 796060 38500 —
forfeited during year 494329 39232 — 198625 29319 —
exercised during year 529750 12280 44636 843917 9382 40638
outstanding at end of year 2035466 33177 — 2371600 26095 —
exercisable at end of year 660947 16295 — 956369 9551 — abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
108
27 sharebased payments continued
enterprise management incentive emi scheme
2014 2013
number of 
share 
options
weighted 
average 
exercise
price 
pence
weighted 
average 
share price 
at date of 
exercise
pence 
number of 
share 
options 
weighted
average
exercise
price 
pence
weighted 
average 
share price 
at date of 
exercise 
pence 
outstanding at beginning of year 278710 6057 — 359987 5729 —
exercised during year 131215 6245 46599 81277 4604 42723
outstanding at end of year 147495 5889 — 278710 6057 —
exercisable at end of year 147495 5889 — 278710 6057 —
the size of the group means that since 2009 it is no longer able to grant awards under the emi scheme
the vesting dates and expected cash receivable on exercise relating to the options outstanding are detailed in the table below
2014 2013
vesting date expiry date
number of 
options 
outstanding
exercise price
 pence
cash receivable 
on exercise
£000 
number of 
options 
outstanding
exercise price 
pence
cash receivable 
on exercise
£000 
5 may 2007 5 may 2014 — — — 1200 50 —
27 may 2008 27 may 2015 7900 125 1 7900 125 1
7 september 2009 7 september 2016 19270 560 11 83825 560 47
8 november 2010 8 november 2017 120325 624 75 161575 624 101
7 may 2011 7 may 2018 — — — 24210 826 20
total 147495 87 278710 169
unapproved share option plan
2014 2013
number of 
share 
options
weighted 
average 
exercise
price 
pence
weighted 
average 
share price 
at date of 
exercise
pence 
number of 
share 
options 
weighted
average
exercise
price 
pence
weighted 
average 
share price 
at date of 
exercise 
pence 
outstanding at beginning of year 376270 7345 — 746150 5795 —
exercised during year 205810 8260 42600 369880 4218 42774
outstanding at end of year 170460 6240 — 376270 7345 —
exercisable at end of year 170460 6240 — 376270 7345 —
further grants of unapproved options are now being made under the abcam 2005 share option scheme
the vesting dates and expected cash receivable on exercise relating to the options outstanding are detailed in the table below
2014 2013
vesting date expiry date
number of 
options 
outstanding
exercise price
 pence
cash receivable 
on exercise
£000 
number of 
options 
outstanding
exercise price 
pence
cash receivable 
on exercise
£000 
8 november 2010 8 november 2017 170460 624 106 170460 624 106
7 may 2011 7 may 2018 — — — 205810 826 170
total 170460 106 376270 276
notes to the financial s tatements continued
for the year ended 30 june 2014 annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
109
27 sharebased payments continued
the abcam 2005 share option scheme
2014 2013
number of 
share 
options
weighted 
average 
exercise
price 
pence
weighted 
average 
share price 
at date of 
exercise
pence 
number of 
share 
options 
weighted
average
exercise
price 
pence
weighted 
average 
share price 
at date of 
exercise 
pence 
outstanding at beginning of year 1114907 30218 — 842673 25488 —
granted during year 558241 46400 — 652183 38500 —
forfeited during year 410597 39604 — 119661 34637 —
exercised during year 73643 18727 46298 260288 14169 39779
outstanding at end of year 1188908 39546 — 1114907 30218 —
exercisable at end of year 156590 24249 — 122750 11833 —
the vesting dates and expected cash receivable on exercise subject to performance conditions being met for options yet to vest 
relating to the options outstanding are detailed in the table below
2014 2013
vesting date expiry date
number of 
options 
outstanding
exercise price
 pence
cash receivable 
on exercise
£000 
number of 
options 
outstanding
exercise price 
pence
cash receivable 
on exercise
£000 
6 november 2011 6 november 2018 45100 924 42 86750 924 80
9 november 2012 9 november 2019 28375 1808 51 36000 1808 65
2 december 2013 2 december 2020 83115 3450 287 120833 3450 417
1 november 2014 1 november 2021 201410 3700 745 275031 3700 1018
1 november 2014 1 november 2022 149475 3850 575 263190 3850 1013
1 november 2015 1 november 2022 128559 3850 495 201548 3850 776
1 november 2016 1 november 2022 74714 3850 288 131555 3850 506
25 november 2015 25 november 2023 211746 4640 983 — — —
25 november 2016 25 november 2023 160472 4640 745 — — —
25 november 2017 25 november 2023 105942 4640 492 — — —
total 1188908 4703 1114907 3875
the abcam csop
2014 2013
number of 
share 
options
weighted 
average 
exercise
price 
pence
weighted 
average 
share price 
at date of 
exercise
pence 
number of 
share 
options 
weighted
average
exercise
price 
pence
weighted 
average 
share price 
at date of 
exercise 
pence 
outstanding at beginning of year 601713 31046 — 658477 26524 —
granted during year 129704 46400 — 143877 38500 —
forfeited during year 83732 37411 — 78964 21259 —
exercised during year 119082 21891 44964 121677 18423 38707
outstanding at end of year 528603 35939 — 601713 31046 —
exercisable at end of year 186402 27040 — 178639 18080 — abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
110
27 sharebased payments continued
the abcam csop continued
the vesting dates and expected cash receivable on exercise subject to performance conditions being met for options yet to vest 
relating to the options outstanding are detailed in the table below
2014 2013
vesting date expiry date
number of 
options 
outstanding
exercise price
 pence
cash receivable 
on exercise
£000 
number of 
options 
outstanding
exercise price 
pence
cash receivable 
on exercise
£000 
9 november 2012 9 november 2019 84685 1808 153 179748 1808 325
2 december 2013 2 december 2020 101717 3450 351 148879 3450 514
1 november 2014 1 november 2021 107520 3700 398 132959 3700 492
1 november 2015 1 november 2022 115202 3850 444 140127 3850 539
25 november 2016 25 november 2023 119479 4640 554 — — —
total 528603 1900 601713 1870
the abcam 2005 share option scheme
the fair value of options issued after september 2006 with marketbased performance criteria is calculated using the monte carlo model 
the inputs into the monte carlo model are as follows
grant date
1 november
 2012
1 november 
2012
1 november
 2012
25 november 
2013 
25 november 
2013
25 november
 2013
share price at grant pence 389 389 389 464 464 464
fair value at valuation date pence 89 96 103 75 110 115
exercise price pence 385 385 385 464 464 464
expected volatility 33 33 33 24 31 30
expected life years 5 6 7 5 6 7
expected dividend yield 156 156 156 170 170 170
riskfree rate 028 041 061 052 089 128
employee exercise multiple 2 2 2 2 2 2
employee exit rate 000 000 000 000 000 000
the abcam csop
grant date
1 november
2012 
25 november
 2013
share price at grant pence 389 464
fair value at valuation date pence 96 108
exercise price pence 385 464
expected volatility 33 31
expected life years 6 6
expected dividend yield 156 170
riskfree rate 041 089
employee exercise multiple 2 2
employee exit rate 000 000
notes to the financial s tatements continued
for the year ended 30 june 2014 annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
111
27 sharebased payments continued
sip
all ukbased employees are eligible to participate in the sip whereby employees buy shares in the company these shares are called 
partnership shares and are held in trust on behalf of the employee for every partnership share bought by the employee up to a limit 
of £1500 per tax year the company will give the employee one share free of charge matching shares provided the employee remains 
employed by the company for a period of at least three years the employees must take their shares out of the plan on leaving the company 
and will not be entitled to the matching shares if they leave within three years of buying the partnership shares in addition the company can 
also award employees up to a maximum of the hmrc approval limit which during the year was £3000 of shares free shares per tax 
year there are no vesting conditions attached to the free shares other than being continuously employed by the company for three years 
from the date of grant
number of free shares number of matching shares
2014 2013 2014 2013
outstanding at beginning of year 591272 540330 154857 130749
granted during year 111119 138607 29867 37374
forfeited during year 39156 32645 5819 5631
released during year 85704 55020 20976 7635
outstanding at end of year 577531 591272 157929 154857
exercisable at end of year 268880 251325 66261 58450
for the purposes of ifrs 2 the fair value of these matching shares and free shares is determined as the market value of the shares at the 
date of grant no valuation model is required to calculate the fair value of awards under the sip  the fair value of an equitybased payment 
under the sip is the face value of the award on the date of grant because the participants are entitled to receive the full value of the shares 
and there are no marketbased performance conditions attached to the awards
the group recognised a total expense of £475000 2013 £561000 in the year relating to matching and free share awards
ltip
the company approved a new ltip in 2008 full details of the performance conditions are outlined in the directors’ remuneration report 
all awards are nilcost options which vest subject to achievement of the relevant performance conditions after three years and can be 
exercised over the following seven years save as permitted in the ltip rules awards lapse on an employee leaving the company
details of performance share awards outstanding during the year are as follows
ltip awards
2014
ltip awards
2013
outstanding at beginning of year 1771767 1887156
granted during year 190224 161044
forfeited during year 338510 58700
exercised during year
1
454609 217733
outstanding at end of year 1168872 1771767
exercisable at end of year 522307 966929
1  the weighted average sales price for exercises in the year was 435 pence 2013 410 pence of the 454609 options exercised during the year 6407 were exercised 
in exchange for cash 2013 31988
the aggregate of the fair values of the awards made on 25 november 2013 is £856137 2013 £600348
the estimated fair values of the awards are calculated using the monte carlo model with the black scholes model used to calculate 
those with a performance condition based on eps the inputs into the models for awards granted are as follows
grant date
1 november 
2012
25 november 
2013
9 december 
2013
weighted average exercise price pence — — —
expected volatility 33 31 29
expected life years 3 3 3
expected dividend yield 156 170 166
riskfree rate 041 087 099
the group recognised a net credit of £102000 2013 an expense of £257000 in the year related to performance share awards under 
the ltip due to a credit back of charges relating to nonmarket based performance conditions not being met abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
112
28 retirement benefit schemes
defined contribution schemes
the ukbased employees of the company have the option to be members of a defined contribution pension scheme managed by a 
third party pension provider for each employee who is a member of the scheme the company will contribute a fixed percentage of each 
employee’s salary to the scheme the only obligation of the group with respect to this scheme is to make the specified contributions
employees of the group’s subsidiaries in the us japan china and hong kong are members of statemanaged retirement benefit 
schemes operated by the governments of the us japan china and hong kong respectively depending on location the subsidiaries 
are required to contribute a specified percentage of payroll costs to the retirement benefit schemes to fund the benefits the only 
obligation of the group with respect to the retirement benefit schemes is to make the specified contributions as required by law
the total cost charged to the income statement in respect of these schemes during the year ended 30 june 2014 was £1207000 
2013 £977000 as at 30 june 2014 contributions of £83000 2013 £84000 due in respect of the current reporting period had 
not been paid over to the schemes
29 related party transactions
remuneration of key management personnel
the remuneration of the senior leadership team and the executive and nonexecutive 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 further information 
about the remuneration of individual directors is provided in the audited part of the directors’ remuneration report
group and company
30 june
2014
£000 
30 june
2013
£000
shortterm employee benefits and fees 3155 2290
postemployment benefits 107 88
sharebased payments charge 190 866
3452 3244
directors’ transactions
dividends totalling £2175556 were paid in the year in respect of ordinary shares held by the company’ s executive and nonexecutive directors
during the year the company made sales to horizon discovery limited of which jonathan milner is a nonexecutive director totalling 
£5413 2013 £3711
company transactions with its subsidiaries
the company provided goods for resale to purchased goods from received dividends from and was charged management fees 
by its subsidiaries in the current and prior year as summarised in the following table
30 june
2014
£000 
30 june
2013
£000
sales of goods 62812 55539
purchase of goods 7495 8549
dividends received — 6557
management fees charged 1209 1705
54108 51842
amounts remaining outstanding at the year end can be seen in the company balance sheet
30 income statement for the company
as permitted by section 408 of the companies act 2006 the company has elected not to present its own income statement for the year 
abcam plc reported a profit for the year ended 30 june 2014 of £29300000 2013 £52524000 profit for the prior year included £13973000 
of nondistributable earnings relating to the gain on disposal resulting from an intragroup transfer of a subsidiary undertaking see note 15 
for further details
notes to the financial s tatements continued
for the year ended 30 june 2014 abcam plc is committed to achieving good environmental practice and this is reflected 
in this annual report which has been printed on cocoon 100 silk this stock is 
comprised of 100 genuine deinked postconsumer waste which is independently 
certified in accordance with the rules of the forest stewardship council
®
 and 
produced at mills with iso 14001 environmental management systems
100
corporate directory
registered office
330 cambridge science park 
milton road 
cambridge cb4 0fl 
uk
websites
wwwabcamcom 
wwwabcamplccom
registered number
3509322
company secretary
jeff iliffe
nominated advisor 
and joint broker
numis securities limited
the london stock exchange building 
10 paternoster square 
london ec4m 7lt 
uk
joint broker
peel hunt llp
moor house 
120 london wall 
london ec2y 5et 
uk
auditor
pricewaterhousecoopers llp
chartered accountants 
abacus house 
castle park 
cambridge cb3 0an 
uk
public relations advisor
brunswick group llp
16 lincoln’s inn fields 
london wc2a 3ed 
uk
banker
national westminster bank plc
king’s parade 
cambridge cb2 3pu 
uk
registrar
capita asset services
northern house 
woodsome park 
fenay bridge 
huddersfield hd8 0ga 
uk
shareholder information
shareholder enquiries
any shareholder with enquiries should in the first instance 
contact our registrars capita asset services using the address 
provided in the corporate directory
share price information
london stock exchange alternative investment market aim 
symbol abc
information on the company’s share price is available on the 
abcam investor relations website at wwwabcamplccom
investor relations
330 cambridge science park 
milton road 
cambridge cb4 0fl 
uk
email corporateabcamcom 
phone 44 01223 696000 
website wwwabcamplccom
financial calendar
financial year end 30 june 2014
full year results announced 9 september 2014
annual general meeting 3 november 2014
exdividend date for final dividend 5 november 2014
record date for final dividend 7 november 2014
final dividend payment 28 november 2014 abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
abcam plc
330 cambridge science park 
cambridge cb4 0fl 
uk
email corporateabcamcom 
phone 44 01223 696000 
fax 44 01223 215215
wwwabcamplccom
감사합니다
谢谢
あ り が と う
σας ευχαριστώ
once again we would like to thank our employees 
who are essential to our continued success
their skill and dedication has been invaluable  
in making abcam what it is today


Summary:
 04
abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
global 
offices
9
product citations
new products
added during
the year
webinars 
hosted 15
11500
15000
supporting the
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您好 こんに ちは 05
overview strategic report corporate governance financial statements
annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc
100
inhouse phds 
conferences
attended
worldwide 
32
supporting the
que st for discovery
employees
around the world
740 06
abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014 abcam plc annual report and accounts 2014
the year ended 
30 june 2014 has been 
an exciting and busy 
time for abcam
“
“
jonathan milner
chief executive officer
strategic report
  our business model – page 9
  marketplace and trends – page 12
  our strategy – page 18
  risks and risk management – page 24
  key performance indicators – page 29
  financial review – page 30
  corporate social responsibility – page 33
in this section