NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Thermo Fisher Scientific said after the close of the market on Thursday that its board of directors has authorized the repurchase of up to $500 million of the firm’s common stock on the open market through Sept. 10, 2009.
The firm’s board had authorized a $1 billion share repurchase program from August 2007 to August 2008.
A couple of months ago, during the firm’s second-quarter conference call, Thermo Fisher President and CEO Marijn Dekkers said that a share repurchase program was not the firm’s priority in using its cash. “Our top priority for the use of cash is to do acquisitions, and you are seeing we have been doing some smaller strategic acquisitions,” he said.
“We don’t exclude other buyback programs,” said Dekkers. “There is just not one ongoing right now.”
Thermo Fisher’s shares closed up 1.6 percent at $57.44 in Thursday trade on the New York Stock Exchange.