HOW THE BIOTECH FINANCES INDEX WORKS

The Biotech France Index was started by Biotech Finances in January 2008. This new market analysis tool enables you to follow the actual development of share prices on the Nyse Euronext stock market in Paris, France, of this sector that is fundamental to the development of the knowledge economy. It is a great support tool for professional and individual investors in this type of business.

The target share pool:
This index covers the field of French biotechnology businesses. The shares to be included are selected either automatically, according to their performance in the sector on the Euronext stock market, or after a detailed analysis of their activities.

1. Systematic selection:
These shares are taken from the specialized sector 4570 of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, and from the sub-sector 4573 of Biotechnology.

2. Case by case assessment by an independent committee of analysts:
These shares are selected from businesses connected to the health sector where their activities have an impact on the biotechnology sector by way of their strategic position in the field.

On December 31st 2007 this target pool included 14 shares, representing a stock market value of 4.720 B€. The range of stock market capitalization is extremely wide, from bioMérieux at the top end, at over 3.08 B€, to the smallest one, Zeta Biotech, at just 6 M€. This target pool is also relatively young, with over half of the shares being registered only in the last two years.

A comprehensive index:
To achieve a truly representative reference index, it appears necessary not to limit the cross-section, but to base it on a calculation for the total population.

Adapted weighting:
With regards to the diversity in the size of the values, a traditional weighting method of the stock market capitalization would lead to domination by a few shares. Consequently we have decided to use the flotation value of each listed company as a reference, and then to limit each value to 15% in order to obtain a pertinent distribution over the total of the currently limited section