FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWS
Delta and Pine Land Company
P.O. Box 157
Scott, Mississippi 38772
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Contacts:
Investors Financial Media
Tom Jagodinski Keil Decker/Stephanie Pillersdorf
Delta and Pine Land Company Citigate Sard Verbinnen
(662) 742-4518 (212) 687-8080
DELTA AND PINE LAND COMPANY ANNOUNCES AGREEMENT
TO LICENSE SYNGENTA COTTON TRAITS
SCOTT, MS, August 24, 2004 -- Delta and Pine Land Company (NYSE: DLP) ("D&PL"),
a leading commercial breeder, producer and marketer of cotton planting seed, and
Syngenta (NYSE: SYT) today announced that D&PL has acquired licenses from
Syngenta to deliver novel biotechnology products to cotton growers worldwide.
The Company will host a conference call to discuss this transaction later today.
Under the agreements with Syngenta, D&PL obtains global licenses to develop and
commercialize Syngenta's innovative insect resistance technology in cottonseed.
In addition, D&PL obtained licenses to a wide range of other Syngenta enabling
technologies that may be useful in developing valuable new products for use in
cottonseed and soybean seed. In return for the licenses, D&PL will pay Syngenta
approximately $47 million in installments due primarily over the next three
years. Upon commercialization of products containing Syngenta traits, D&PL will
receive 70% of the net licensing revenues related to the insect resistant traits
covered by the agreements.
Tom Jagodinski, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "This agreement
with Syngenta represents another move forward within our technology strategy to
provide increased value to farmers. Cotton producers count on D&PL genetics, and
we have taken several steps in recent years to insure our varieties are paired
with the best technologies. For some time, we have been working with Syngenta on
a research basis and the potential of their technology to our customers and D&PL
is clear. We are very pleased to be able to expand our relationship to offer
Syngenta's excellent technology to our customers."
The first product to be commercialized under the agreements will be VipCot(TM),
a novel insect control trait. Depending on the timing of regulatory approval,
D&PL expects to have limited quantities of seed available as early as 2006.
Subsequent varieties are expected to contain VipCot stacked with a herbicide
tolerant trait and thereafter with another insect resistant gene.
D&PL's technology strategy is designed to offer a variety of technologies from
multiple sources to farmers in the near-term and into the future. D&PL's
commercial varieties currently contain Monsanto's Bollgard(R), Bollgard(R) II
and Roundup Ready(R) traits. In addition, D&PL has incorporated Monsanto's
Roundup Ready(R) Flex technology and Syngenta's VipCot traits into its research
and testing programs. D&PL also continues to develop insect resistance,
herbicide tolerant and nematode resistance traits for cotton through its joint
venture with Verdia (now owned by DuPont).
2004 Earnings Impact
D&PL anticipates incurring a pre-tax charge of approximately $37.5 million for a
write off of in-process research and development and related transaction
expenses in the fourth quarter of 2004 related to the acquisition of these
licenses. As a result of these charges, the prior guidance estimate for the
fourth quarter should be adjusted to a fourth quarter loss of $0.68 to $0.72
cents per diluted share in 2004, compared to a loss of $0.25 in 2003. D&PL's
previously announced 2004 annual earnings guidance of $0.67 to $0.75 per diluted
share should be adjusted to an estimated income of $0.08 to $0.16 per diluted
share for the entire year. This revised guidance also includes the impact of
$0.19 to $0.21 per diluted share from expenses related to the Monsanto/Pharmacia
litigation, which is unchanged from our previous guidance.
Conference Call
D&PL will hold a conference call with the investment community to review this
announcement on Tuesday, August 24, 2004, at 10:00 a.m. ET/9:00 a.m. CT. The
call can be accessed by dialing 800-374-0532 (International, 706-634-0148) and
access code 9659709. Live audio of the conference call will also be accessible
at www.vcall.com. The call will be available on the website for 90 days, and
will also be available for replay from 11:00 a.m. ET/10:00 a.m. CT on Tuesday,
August 24, 2004, through midnight, Tuesday, August 31, 2004, by dialing
800-642-1687 (International, 706-645-9291) and entering reservation number:
9659709.
About Delta and Pine Land Company
Delta and Pine Land Company is a leading commercial breeder, producer and
marketer of cotton planting seed. Headquartered in Scott, Mississippi, with
multiple offices in eight states and facilities in several foreign countries,
D&PL also breeds, produces and markets soybean planting seed in the U.S. For
more information, please refer to the Company's website at www.deltaandpine.com.
# # #
Certain matters discussed in this release are "forward-looking statements,"
including statements about the Company's future plans, goals and other events
which have not yet occurred. These statements are intended to qualify for the
safe harbors from liability provided by the Private Securities Litigation Reform
Act of 1995. They can generally be identified because the context of such
statements will include words such as "believes," "anticipates," "expects" or
words of similar import. It is the nature of agricultural seed businesses that
supply, demand and their timing are affected by many variables, including
commodity prices, weather and government policy. Due to the seasonal nature of
the seed business, the Company typically incurs losses in its first and fourth
quarters. Additional risks and uncertainties with respect to the Company's
business and forward looking statements are set forth in the Company's latest
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.