NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Bio-Reference Laboratories today reported that its first quarter revenues grew 12 percent, as the firm noted plans to expand its GeneDx business.
The Elmwood Park, NJ-based clinical lab firm reported revenues of $181.3 million for the three months ended January 31, up from $161.3 million for the first quarter of 2013. It beat the consensus Wall Street estimate of $171.4 million.
BRL CEO Marc Grodman said in a statement that part of the firm's sales growth came from its genetic testing business. Specifically, he noted that the firm saw a test volume increase of more than 70 percent year over year for its GeneDx business.
BRL posted net income of around $3 million, or $.11 per share, for the quarter, down from $8.7 million, or $.31 per share, for Q1 2013. It fell short of the average analyst estimate of $.13.
Its general and administrative costs climbed to $66.3 million from $55.2 million.
"This has been a tumultuous time in the clinical laboratory industry with a changing reimbursement landscape," said Grodman. "Despite this, we are encouraged by our growth, 12 percent in both net revenues and patient count. Layer on that, however, particularly horrible weather, the added improvements to the infrastructure of our recent acquisitions in both Florida and California and our continuing support of the opportunity presented by GeneDx and genetic testing, our results for the period were what we had anticipated."
Grodman further noted that BRL intends to "double the number of GeneDx employees September 2013 to the end of FY 2014 in order to meet the demand for our services."
BRL finished the quarter with $14.5 million in cash and cash equivalents.
In Tuesday morning trade on the Nasdaq, shares of BRL were up around 4 percent at $25.98.