NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Agilent Technologies said today that “robust growth” in its Bio-Analytical business unit helped drive overall revenue growth of 5 percent for its third fiscal quarter of 2008.
For the quarter ended July 31, 2008, Agilent’s total revenues grew to $1.44 billion from $1.37 billion in the comparable period of last year.
Bill Sullivan, Agilent’s president and CEO, said in a statement that the company’s total third-quarter revenues “came in at the low end of our expectations.”
Bio-Analytical revenues increased 13 percent to $566 million from $500 million in the prior-year period. Revenue growth for the segment was 10 percent excluding the company’s acquisitions of Stratagene and Velocity11.
Within the Bio-Analytical group, revenues for the Life Sciences business segment rose 18 percent to $247 million. Excluding acquisitions, life science revenues were up 11 percent.
Agilent said that life science sales to pharma and biotech increased 14 percent year-over-year, with “modest growth in the Americas and Europe and a strong performance from Asia.” Sales to the academic and government markets increased 36 percent, “with particular strength in microarrays, which were up nearly 50 percent.”
Geographically, Bio-Analytical revenues increased 15 percent in the Americas, 5 percent in Europe, and 23 percent in Asia, Agilent said.
Agilent posted total R&D spending of $170 million, unchanged from the third fiscal quarter 2007. Selling, general, and administrative costs dipped 1 percent to $415 million from $420 million.
The company’s total costs and expenses rose slightly to $1.23 billion from $1.20 billion in the comparable period of 2007.
Third-quarter net income fell 9 percent to $169 million, or $.45 per share, from $185 million, or $.45 per share. Net income for the current quarter includes $22 million of non-cash amortization charges. Excluding this item and $7 million of other charges, Agilent said that its third-quarter adjusted net income was $198 million, or $.53 per share, compared to adjusted income of $173 million, or $.43 per share, one year ago.
Sullivan said the company expects fiscal fourth-quarter revenues in the range of $1.52 billion to $1.58 billion, up 5 percent to 9 percent from last year’s fourth quarter.
For the fiscal first quarter of 2009, Agilent anticipates revenues in the range of $1.45 billion to $1.50 billion, up 4 percent to 8 percent from one year earlier.
As of July 31, Agilent had $ 1.64 billion in cash and cash equivalents.