NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Life science and diagnostics company Meridian Bioscience reported before the opening of the market on Thursday that its second quarter revenues fell 1 percent, due to a decline in sales for its diagnostics segment.
For the three months ended March 31, the firm reported revenues of $51.3 million compared to revenues of $51.5 million in Q2 2015. Wall Street analysts had expected revenues of $52.1 million for the quarter.
In a statement, Chairman and CEO John Kraeutler noted that increased sales of the firm's Illumigene respiratory products were key drivers of revenue generation during the quarter, with the Group A strep and pertussis assays leading the way. The firm added 31 new Illumigene customers during the quarter and 15 customers for its malaria test, with three of these being new customers. In the diagnostics segment, he added, the H. pylori product lines "continued to perform well."
However, overall revenues from the company's diagnostics segment fell 3 percent to $37.4 million from $38.7 million a year ago. "Overall, diagnostics revenues declined due to competitive pressures in the C. difficile and foodborne segments," Kraeutler said.
Life science segment revenues, meanwhile, rose 8 percent to $13.9 million from $12.9 million. Kraeutler added that the increase in life science revenues was led primarily "by our continuing expansion of our customer base in China, several new product initiatives from our Bioline molecular components business, and additional contributions from our Zika virus panel of antibodies for research and product development customers."
Its net earnings fell to $9.1 million, or $.21 per share, from $10.1 million, or $.24 per share, a year ago. On an adjusted basis, the company reported EPS of $.24, in line with analyst estimates.
The firm's R&D costs for the quarter fell 9 percent to $3.1 million from $3.4 million, and SG&A expenses rose 2 percent to $14.1 million from $13.8 million year over year.
The firm reported cash and cash equivalents of $48.9 million. Meridian also declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $.20 per share for Q2, for shareholders of record on May 9 and payable on May 19. The indicated annual dividend rate of $.80 per share remains the same as 2015, the company said.
For 2016, the company reaffirmed its previous guidance for revenues of $195 million to $200 million and EPS of $.86 to $.90. Analysts, on average, expect revenues of $201.5 million and EPS of $.89 for the year.
Meridian's shares rose nearly 2 percent to $21.05 in morning trading on the Nasdaq.