Techne Corporation Releases Unaudited Second Quarter Results for Fiscal Year 2001

For the three months ended December 31, 2000, Techne's consolidated net income increased 25% to $6,982,510 or 16 cents per share (diluted), compared with $5,564,063 or 13 cents (diluted) in the second quarter of last year. The improvement in earnings was primarily the result of increased sales and gross margins. For the three months ended December 31, 2000, Techne's consolidated sales were $26,688,666, an increase of $1,561,827 or 6% from the second quarter of last year. R&D Systems' Biotechnology Division net sales increased 7% to $16,585,983 from $15,459,607 and R&D Systems' Hematology Division net sales increased 14% to $3,677,677 from $3,220,811. R&D Europe's net sales were $21,415 less than the second quarter of last year.

For the six months ended December 31, 2000, Techne's consolidated net income increased 39% to $14,485,560 or 34 cents per share (diluted), compared with $10,412,302 or 25 cents (diluted) in the first six months of last year. The improvement in earnings was also primarily the result of increased sales and gross margins. For the six months ended December 31, 2000, Techne's consolidated sales were $54,410,229, an increase of $4,662,337 or 9% from the first six months of last year. R&D Systems' Biotechnology Division net sales increased 13% to $34,506,898 from $30,533,927 and R&D Systems' Hematology Division net sales increased 13% to $7,185,894 from $6,384,499. R&D Europe's net sales decreased 1% to $12,717,437 from $12,829,466 for the first six months of last year.

The decrease in R&D Europe net sales for the quarter and six months was the result of changes in exchange rates. In British Pounds, R&D Europe's sales increased 11% and 10% over the second quarter and first six months of last year. Adjusted for all changes in exchange rates, R&D Europe's revenues for the second quarter and first six months of fiscal 2001 would have been approximately $1.0 and $1.9 million higher than reported. R&D Systems' Biotechnology Division second quarter net sales increase of 7% was lower than expected. This was due to several factors, including two fewer prime shipping days during the quarter as compared to last year, slower than normal sales during the current Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday period and three large bulk orders in the second quarter of last year which resulted in an unusually large sales increase of 24% for that quarter.

In addition to the increased sales by R&D Systems' Biotechnology and Hematology Divisions, consolidated gross margins as a percent of sales also increased from 72% to 75% for both the quarter and six months ended December 31, 2000. Margins in the first half of last year were affected by the higher cost of inventory acquired from Genzyme Corporation in fiscal 1999. Selling, general and administrative expenses decreased from last year for both the quarter and six months mainly as a result of exchange rate changes, lower profit sharing accruals and the timing of certain printing and promotion expenses. It is anticipated that printing and promotion expenses will accelerate in the third and fourth quarters of fiscal 2001.

During the first six months of fiscal 2001, Techne purchased and retired 10,000 shares of common stock at a market value of $400,004. From the start of the repurchase program in May 1995 1,311,200 shares have been purchased at a market value of $9,154,118. On January 25, 2001, the Board of Directors authorized the purchase and retirement, subject to market conditions and share price, of an additional $10 million of common stock, bringing the total amount authorized for repurchase to $20 million.

Statements in this earnings release and elsewhere which look forward in time involve risks and uncertainties which may affect the actual results of operations. The following important factors, among others, have affected and, in the future, could affect the Company's actual results: the introduction and acceptance of new biotechnology and hematology products, the levels and particular directions of research into cytokines by the Company's customers, the impact of the growing number of producers of cytokine research products and related price competition, the retention of hematology OEM and proficiency survey business, the impact of currency exchange rate fluctuations, the outcome of litigation involving the Company and the costs and results of research and product development efforts of the Company and of companies in which the Company has invested or with which it has formed strategic relationships. For additional information concerning such factors, see the Company's annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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Techne Corporation has two operating subsidiaries: Research and Diagnostic Systems, Inc. (R&D Systems) of Minneapolis, Minnesota and R&D Systems Europe, Ltd. (R&D Europe) of Abingdon, England. R&D Systems is a specialty manufacturer of biological products and R&D Europe is a distributor of biotechnology products.

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