Qiagen s Q3 Revenues Grow 7 Percent as Profit Spikes 40 Percent

NEW YORK, Nov. 8 (GenomeWeb News) - Qiagen yesterday reported a 9-percent increase in sales and 40-percent spike in net profit in the third quarter.

Revenues for the three months ended Sept. 30 increased to $98.7 million from $90.4 million in the year-ago period. Qiagen said that unfavorable currency exchange rates cost the company $3.1 million in sales revenue. The company had provided guidance of $101.8 million in revenues earlier in the year.

Qiagen's net income for the third quarter jumped 40 percent to $17.6 million, or from $12.6 million in the third quarter last year.

"Reported revenues were slightly below the company's guidance ... as two of our OEM partners in molecular diagnostics further delayed certain product launches which include Qiagen instrument and consumable products," Roland Sackers, Qiagen's CFO, said in a statement.

Qiagen added that these delays led to a shortfall of approximately $2 million this quarter, primarily in instrumentation, which translated to a 14-percent drop in the growth of its instrumentation business. The company also said that there was a "good probability" that the delayed product launches will occur late this year or in early 2006.

The company's consumables business, which contributed about 89 percent to net sales, grew about 15 percent in the third quarter compared to Q3 last year.

Qiagen did not break out R&D expenses or its balance sheet.