Encorium Group, Inc. (ENCO) Announces New Business Contract Wins of $6.8 Million

WAYNE, Pa., May 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Encorium Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: ENCO), a full service multinational clinical research organization (CRO) conducting studies in over 30 countries for many of the world’s leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, today announced that it has recently been awarded $6.8 million of new business awards, primarily consisting of two Phase III studies for a major Asian technology company that is diversifying its operations into the pharmaceutical industry.

Kai Lindevall, Chief Executive Officer, of the Company stated, “This is the most significant break-through to date in our business development efforts in the Asian market.  We are very pleased to have been awarded these landmark studies for this major high-tech company.  To be selected as a preferred provider is the best benchmark we could imagine with which to measure our success in Asia.  In addition, we have recently seen a significant increase in the number of requests for proposals and are seeing signs that the market appears to be regaining some of its pre-recession vibrancy, particularly in the case of small to medium sized biopharmaceutical companies, which are a key market for the Company.”

Additionally, Encorium Group announced that its preliminary financial results (unaudited) for the three months ended March 31, 2010 are expected to show a decrease in net revenues of approximately $1.5 million or 34% to $3.0 million as compared to $4.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2009.  The preliminary net loss is expected to be in the range of $0.57 – $0.64 per share as compared to a net loss of $0.08 per share for the same period a year ago.  The reduced revenue and resulting net loss are primarily due to less new business awards, contract cancellations along with the performance of unexpected out of scope work for which revenue can not be recognized until corresponding change orders are executed with the client.  The Company is negotiating change orders with the client and will recognize revenue during the period such change orders are executed; however, there can be no certainty as to the timing or value of these change orders.

The Company will provide additional details of its performance in its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ending March 31, 2010 once filed.

About Encorium Group, Inc.

Encorium Group, Inc. is a global clinical research organization specializing in the design and management of complex clinical trials and Patient Registries for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries. The Company’s mission is to provide its clients with high quality, full-service support for their biopharmaceutical and medical device development programs. Encorium offers therapeutic expertise, experienced team management and advanced technologies. The Company has drug and biologics development as well as clinical trial experience across a wide variety of therapeutic areas such as infectious diseases, cardiovascular, vaccines, oncology, diabetes endocrinology/metabolism, gene therapy, immunology, neurology, gastroenterology, dermatology, hepatology, women’s health and respiratory medicine. Encorium believes that its expertise in the design of complex clinical trials, its therapeutic experience and commitment to excellence, and its application of innovative technologies, offer its clients a means to more quickly and cost effectively move products through the clinical development process.

This press release contains forward-looking statements identified by words such as “estimate,” “project,” “expect,” “intend,” “believe,” “anticipate” and similar expressions.  Those statements involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results could differ materially from those discussed. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: (i) the risk that we may not have sufficient funds to operate our business; (ii) our success in attracting new business and retaining existing clients and projects; (iii) the size, duration and timing of clinical trials we are currently managing may change unexpectedly; (iv) the termination, delay or cancellation of clinical trials we are currently managing could cause revenues and cash-on-hand to decline unexpectedly; (v) the timing difference between our receipt of contract milestone or scheduled payments and our incurring costs to manage these trials; (vi) outsourcing trends in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries; (vii) the ability to maintain profit margins in a competitive marketplace; (viii) our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; (ix) the sensitivity of our business to general economic conditions; (x) other economic, competitive, governmental and technological factors affecting our operations, markets, products, services and prices; (xi) announced awards received from existing and potential customers are not definitive until fully negotiated contracts are executed by the parties; (xii) our backlog may not be indicative of future results and may not generate the revenues expected; (xiii) uncertainties regarding the availability of additional capital; (xiv) uncertainties regarding the execution of change orders by our clients for work already performed; and (xv) uncertainties regarding continued listing of our common stock on Nasdaq. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statement. We undertake no obligation to publicly release the result of any revision of these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Please refer to the section entitled “Risk Factors” in the Company Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009.