NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Alere reported after the close of the market Monday that its fourth quarter 2016 revenues dropped 3 percent year over year.
For the three months ended Dec. 31, 2016, the company reported revenues of $596.8 million, compared to $617.1 million in Q4 2015.
Its cardiometabolic disease revenues fell 20 percent to $144 million from $180 million in the prior-year quarter. Infectious disease revenues rose 12 percent to $212 million from $189 million. Toxicology revenues dropped 1 percent to $148 million from $150 million. Consumer diagnostics revenues dropped 11 percent to $18 million from $20 million. License and royalty revenues rose 30 percent to $4 million from $3 million. Other business revenues were down 15 percent to $38 million from $45 million. And other non-reportable revenues, a new classification for patient self-testing, rose 11 percent to $34 million from $31 million.
Global influenza sales were $39 million in the fourth quarter of 2016, a 60 percent increase compared to $24 million in the prior-year Q4, Alere said.
The company's Q4 net loss widened to $114.2 million, or a loss of $1.38 per share, compared to a loss of $19.1 million, or a loss of $.31 per share, a year ago.
The company reported that its R&D expenses during the quarter fell 11 percent year over year to $25.2 million from $28.2 million, while its SG&A expenses rose 14 percent to $261.4 million from $229.9 million.
For the full-year 2016, Alere reported that total revenues fell 3 percent to $2.38 billion from $2.46 billion in 2015.
Namal Nawana, CEO of Alere, said in a statement, “Alere delivered solid 2016 results by maintaining our discipline and staying focused on core business growth. … Excluding extraordinary costs and the impact of foreign currency exchange and divestitures, our operating earnings in 2016 were roughly in line with 2015.”
He said that the firm successfully accelerated growth in its global infectious disease business in 2016, achieving double-digit sales growth, driven by the success of the Alere i molecular platform with an expanded menu of three assays. In addition, he said the company has seen a strong start to 2017 in each of its global business units.
The firm's net loss for the year was $159.0 million, or $1.83 per share, compared to a gain of $182.4 million, or $2.14 per share, the year before.
For 2016, the company's R&D expenses fell 6 percent to $112.1 million from $119.5 million in 2015, and its SG&A expenses rose 20 percent to $966.8 million from $808.6 million in the year-ago period.
Alere ended the year with cash and cash equivalents of $567.2 million.