PARIS - Appligène Oncor SA's turnover in the second quarter of 1998 amounted to FFr10.9 million, which was a 3.6 percent increase from the corresponding period of 1997, but slightly lower than 1998's first-quarter figure of FFr11.1 million.

Revenues in the first half of this year as a whole were 8.4 percent higher, at FFr22 million, than last year.

The first-half loss has not been disclosed, but Chief Financial Officer Marc Vander Linden welcomed the return to revenue growth.

In June, when the company's 1997 results were published, its auditors issued a warning to shareholders about the net loss of FFr23 million ($3.8 million) for last year, which followed a loss of FFr11.8 million in 1996.

At the time, Vander Linden made it clear that higher sales were the prerequisite for the company's return to profitability. In 1997 the company's turnover declined slightly to FFr38.6 million.

Based near Strasbourg, Appligène Oncor supplies biological substances and equipment to organizations researching the human genome. As part of the restructuring and new corporate strategy adopted earlier this year, the company is scaling down its instruments business and increasing sales of higher margin reagents.

The increase in turnover in the first half took place despite a 30 percent drop in instrument sales. The company also has launched new molecular biological products, and is looking to conclude marketing or partnership agreements with other companies in this sector. - James Etheridge