Thermo's net earnings decline but demand for its products remains strong
fall 53 per cent to $56.5 (€47.2) m from $121.1 m a year ago due to
one-time tax charges, but new acquisitions and a surge in demand
for its instruments, particularly from its pharmaceutical and
biotechnology clients, meant that revenues climbed up 21 per cent,
from $613.3 m to $740.8 m.
The results are encouraging in what has been a tough year for its major pharmaceutical customers, with the company's life and laboratory sciences segment reporting revenue growth of 24 per cent in Q4 of 2005 to $563 m, compared with $455 m in 2004.
Revenue from measurement and control rose 12 per cent to $177 m as industrial customers started spending more on instrumentation.
Commenting on the results of the firm, Marijn E. Dekkers, the company's president and CEO said: "We experienced very strong growth from our industrial markets, especially in commodity materials and environmental monitoring. In addition, growth from our life sciences customers continued at a good pace."
"Our aggressive growth investments were key contributors to our excellent performance in 2005," he added.
Thermo's confidence in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector was reaffirmed last year when it spent $834 m to acquire the Kendo Laboratory products division of SPX in North Carolina, which offers it gear to prepare and store samples at life sciences companies.
Its acquisitions also included Niton LLC, a manufacturer of handheld X-ray analyzers in Massachusetts, for $41 m.
But a large tax gain in the year-earlier quarter resulted in Thermo's balance sheet being hit this year.
Full year figures paint the same picture as Q4 results, with net earnings dropping to $223.2 m from $361.8 m and profits rising 19 per cent to $2.63 bn from $2.21 bn in 2004.
Thermo's target for 2006 is for adjusted earnings in the range of $1.75 to $1.80 a share, excluding 10 cents per share in stock option expenses, which will be up from $1.55 this year and $1.25 in 2004.
The Massachusetts-based company opened a manufacturing center in Sugar Land, Texas, in Q4, consolidating two former facilities in Houston and Round Rock, Texas.
Thermo also opened product demonstration centers in India and China.
Its equipment is used for a wide range of tasks, such as screening pharmaceuticals, assessing the quality of food and beverages, assisting forensics inspectors and probing environmental conditions.
