Waters Said Organic Q1 Revenues Grew 3 Percent; Income Up 14 Percent

NEW YORK, April 26 (GenomeWeb News) - Waters today said that first-quarter revenues increased 5 percent to $268.3 million from $255.1 million year over year.

Waters said that a foreign currency translation benefit accounted for approximately 2 percent of its first-quarter revenue growth, meaning that organic growth amounted to 3 percent.

Waters spent $16.7 million on research and development during the first quarter, a slight increase over the $16.1 million spent on R&D in the same quarter last year.

The company said net income for the three months ended March 31 increased 14 to $46.6 million, or $.39 per basic share, from $40.8 million, or $.34 per basic share, in the year-ago period.

Waters said that cash and cash equivalents on hand totaled $587 million as of April 2.

On March 29, Waters revised its estimate of 2005 sales growth to between 3 and 4 percent from the 13- to 14-percent range it identified in a January conference call with investors. The company also revised its projected first-quarter per-share earnings from $.44 to between $.34 and $.37. In a statement, the firm said that the lowered earnings were the result of "weaker than expected sales growth."