Harvard Bio Q2 Revenues Drop 3.3 Percent, Net Loss Surges on Charges

NEW YORK, Aug. 9 (GenomeWeb News) - Harvard Bioscience, which recently announced that it would divest its capital equipment business, today reported second quarter revenue of $21.7 million, a 3.3 percent drop from revenue of $22.5 million in last year's second quarter.

The firm's apparatus and instrumentation unit, which it is retaining, brought in revenue of $16.3 million for the quarter, up 4.2 percent year over year from $15.6 million. Revenue for the capital equipment segment dropped a sharp 20.3 percent to $5.4 million from $6.8 million in last year's second quarter.

Harvard Bio posted a net loss of $27.4 million, or $.90 per share, compared with a net profit of $298,000, or $.01 per share, year over year. The loss includes asset abandonment and impairment charges of $17.9 million related to the divestiture of the capital equipment business.

The firm also disclosed that it has hired investment banking firm Thomas Weisel Partners to help it find a buyer for the capital equipment segment, which includes the Genomic Solutions business. The company said it would use proceeds from the sale to pay down its $15.2 million debt facility and finance tuck-in acquisitions.

As of June 30, Harvard Bio had cash and cash equivalents of $13.2 million.