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Meridian Bioscience Preliminary FY2016 Results Miss Analyst Expectations

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Meridian Bioscience issued preliminary fiscal year 2016 earnings after the close of the market on Tuesday, reporting a 1 percent year-over-year increase in revenues.

Meridian expects revenues of $196 million for its fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2016, including fourth quarter revenues of $47 million. Diluted earnings per share should be in the $.75 to $.76 range for the year, compared to $.85 per share in for FY2015.

The firm had previously issued guidance for net revenue growth of between 3 percent and 5 percent on a constant currency basis, or a revenue range of $195 million to $200 million. However, Wall Street analysts had expected FY2016 revenues of $198.5 million for the year, earnings per share of $.86, and revenues of $49.3 million for Q4.

The company blamed the lower-than-expected results on ongoing competitive pressures in Q4 for C. difficile and food product testing, as well as on distributor order patterns and timing of respiratory season stocking orders in its diagnostics business. Meridian also saw a large immunoassay component shipped in the third quarter, rather than the fourth, at the customer's request.

Meridian also noted that its acquisition of Magellan Diagnostics in 2016 added to revenues, as did continued growth in the firm's H. pylori product family.

For 2017, the company now expects net revenues to grow at 5 percent to 7 percent, to about $205 million to $210 million, with diluted EPS of $.81 to $.85. This does not include the impact of any acquisitions the firm may make in the year, the company noted. Analysts expect revenues of $210.6 million for 2017, and earnings per share of $.91.

"For the past several years, as we have been making investments to drive growth in the future, we have experienced weakness in certain areas of our business that have limited our growth," said Meridian Chairman and CEO John Kraeutler in a statement. "We believe the fundamental changes initiated over recent months, namely changes in key leadership, aggressive M&A efforts and global expansion, are already having a positive effect, and with our broad portfolio of product opportunities, we are guiding to mid-single digit revenue growth expectations for fiscal 2017." 

Meridian's shares fell nearly 6 percent to $17.60 in Wednesday morning trading on the Nasdaq.