Applied DNA Sciences Reports Fiscal First Quarter 2013 Results

STONY BROOK, NY -- (Marketwire) -- 02/14/13 -- Applied DNA Sciences, Inc. (OTCBB: APDN) announced its financial results for the quarter ending December 31, 2012.

Financial Results
For the three months ended December 31, 2012, we generated $317,670 in revenues from operations principally from the sales of authentication services. For the three months ended December 31, 2011, we generated $516,904 in revenues from operations. The decrease in sales for the three months ended December 31, 2012 compared to the three months ended December 31, 2011 was primarily caused by the expiration of certain contracts and delays in our transition to new contracts with products in our target markets.

Selling, general and administrative expenses increased from $2,152,428 for the three months ended December 31, 2011 to $2,521,167 for the three months ended December 31, 2012. The increase of $368,739, or 17.1%, is primarily attributable to higher professional and service fees incurred.

Research and development expenses increased from $78,473 for the three months ended December 31, 2011 to $147,666 for the three months ended December 31, 2012. The increase of $69,193 is attributable to additional research and development activity needed with current operations.

Total operating expenses increased to $2,689,828 for the three months ended December 31, 2012 from $2,329,274 for the three months ended December 31, 2011, or an increase of $360,554 primarily attributable to an increase in professional fees paid and in R&D expenditures, which was offset by a decrease in depreciation and amortization expense.

Net loss for the three months ended December 31, 2012 increased to $8,704,757 from a net loss of $2,409,905 for the three months ended December 31, 2011 primarily attributable to the factors described above.

Commented Dr. James Hayward, President and CEO of Applied DNA Sciences: "Earnings for this quarter were not as robust as hoped for, but I believe we have spent the time and resources to lay the foundation on which to properly build our business. New technology breakthroughs during the quarter strengthen the company's position in verticals such as textiles and in optical reading (scanning). Meanwhile, our military electronics offering continues to have strong momentum, although the sales cycle in a government-driven business may be somewhat longer than is commonly perceived."

APDN opened new cash-in-transit business in Sweden for the company's anti-theft product, smartDNA, in that country. A new patent was awarded for the APDN's linkage of SigNature® DNA marks to optical reporting (scanners), while new breakthroughs in SigNature DNA marking for textiles strengthen the company's offerings in the vertical.

In the military electronics area, APDN built new contractual relationships with firms that will provide third-party SigNature DNA marking on electronics, including in this effort the first test house in the program, Premier Semiconductor. The company also pointed to expansion of its capacity in volume and speed in the authentication process, and hiring of new personnel in sales, scientific, and quality areas.

Dr. Hayward stated, in reference to the company's business related to the DLA mandate for SigNature DNA on microcircuits: "We believe that we were right, during the first quarter, to devote resources to growing the company's capacity to absorb the very significant business we believe can be generated by the DLA mandate. We think this is underlined by the announcement by DLA, only weeks after the quarter concluded, that it would subsidize costs of SigNature DNA marking for trusted suppliers."

Subsequent achievements include:

• Announcement by the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) that the Agency would subsidize APDN's SigNature DNA marking for defense suppliers who provide designated high-reliability electronics to the Agency. The announcement, published as an "Update" on the DLA Bid Board System (DIBBS) web site on January 24, 2013, also emphasized that "effective immediately, only trusted sources who comply with Deoxyribonucleic Acid marking requirement in DLAD 52.11-9074 are eligible to receive FSC 5962 awards from DLA. There are no exceptions."
  
  
• We established "third-party" DNA Marking Partners, to provide the ability for electronic manufacturers and distributors to outsource DNA marking and comply with the DLA mandate.
  
  
• Closed on $7.5 million in financing with the best terms the company has ever been able to negotiate. Additional financing is possible through the exercise of warrants.
  
  
• Bought back Warrants to buy 26,881,720 shares of the Company's Common Stock, ($0.001 par value), issued to Crede CG II, Ltd. with an exercise price per share of $0.2232 for $50,000.
  
  
• Initiated relationships with Forward Components to SigNature DNA mark components for the DLA and with Premier Semi to act as a third-party marker of SigNature DNA for parties unable or unwilling to mark the components themselves.
  
  
• Hired additional sales representative with over 15 years in the electronics industry.
  
  
• Received Notification of Allowance for four patent applications previously filed and we expect these patents to be issued over the next few months. This will further protect our intellectual property and act as a barrier to entry to others trying to imitate our product offerings.
  
  
• In January, we were invited to present at the Jedec meeting in San Antonio. During a 2-hour technical briefing, we shared testing data in direct response to industry concerns.
  
  
• Signed contracts with 2 trusted distributors, and have contracts pending with 4 additional, bringing our total to 10 companies with DNA-marking ability.
  
  
• Eight additional companies have initiated negotiations to obtain SigNature DNA.
  
  

The quarterly report on Form 10-Q, which includes Applied DNA Sciences consolidated financial statements, is available for viewing and downloading, free of charge, through the Investor Relations section of APDN's Web site at www.adnas.com, or through the SEC's electronic data system at www.sec.gov.

About APDN
APDN is a provider of botanical-DNA based security and authentication solutions that can help protect products, brands and intellectual property of companies, governments and consumers from theft, counterfeiting, fraud and diversion. SigNature® DNA and BioMaterial Genotyping™, our principal anti-counterfeiting and product authentication solutions that essentially cannot be copied, provide a forensic chain of evidence and can be used to prosecute perpetrators.

The statements made by APDN may be forward-looking in nature. Forward-looking statements describe APDN's future plans, projections, strategies and expectations, and are based on assumptions and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of APDN. Actual results could differ materially from those projected due to our short operating history, limited financial resources, limited market acceptance, market competition and various other factors detailed from time to time in APDN's SEC reports and filings, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed on December 20, 2012 and our subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. APDN undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date hereof to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.