NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) — Thermo Fisher Scientific today said first-quarter revenues increased nearly 240 percent as R&D spending rose 55 percent and profit jumped 200 on combined sales and spending stemming from the merger of Thermo Electron and Fisher Scientific.
Total receipts for the three months ended March 31 increased to $2.3 billion from $684.3 million year over year.
Thermo said revenue from its Analytical Technologies segment increased 15 percent to $1 billion, while receipts from the Lab Products and Services segment increased 9 percent to $1.4 billion.
Claiming “excellent performance across the board” in the first quarter, Thermo CEO Marijn Dekkers attributed much of the growth to new products introduced within the last two years. Dekkers pointed specifically to “strong” demand for its mass spectrometers, elemental-analysis systems, and portable analyzers.
R&D spending increased to $59.8 million from $38.7 million in the first quarter of 2006.
The company said profit rose to $138.9 million from $45.9 million in the year-ago period.
Dekkers said Thermo expects 2007 earnings to grow between 27 and 32 percent in 2007, and he said the company is maintaining its revenue guidance of $9.4 to $9.5 billion for the full year, which would be an increase of between 6 and 8 percent over 2006.
Thermo said it had around $670.9 million in cash and equivalents and $20.5 million in short-term investments as of March 31.