Caliper Life Sciences Inc. took a big fourth-quarter hit to its balance sheet, widening its losses by 91 percent for the three-month period ended Dec. 31, 2008.
The Hopkinton-based lab equipment maker posted a $45 million charge on impairment of goodwill during the quarter.
That pushed the Caliper’s quarterly net loss to $46 million, compared to $5.7 million during the same period in 2007 — nearly 33 percent of its $68 million net loss for the full year. That, in turn, represents a 60 percent hike over the $24 million net loss Caliper posted for fiscal 2007.
Sales also declined, sliding 8.3 percent to $36.7 million for the quarter (compared with $40 million during the fourth quarter of the prior year) and dipping 4.4 percent, to $134 million, for the full year compared with $140 million in 2007.
Caliper said the goodwill charge stemmed from the divestiture of a pair of its product lines late last year.
The company sold its Pharmaceutical Development and Quality product line to Sotax Corp. for about $14 million in cash and the assumption of another $2 million in debt.
And in November 2008, Caliper sold AutoTrace automated water sample testing business Nov. 10, 2008 to Dionex Corp. for about $5 million in cash. The deal included provisions for Caliper to continue to manufacture and sell the product line through January of this year.
The deals netted Caliper roughly $19 million in cash and removed about $2 million in debts from the books, leaving it about $26 million in cash on hand at the end of 2008, compared to roughly $19 million for 2007.
But in the third quarter last year the company determined that its fair value (the likely price a buyer would pay for the company) exceeded its book value. Slumping sales and plunging share values — Caliper’s stock has fallen by about 75 percent since March 2008 — forced it to take the $45 million goodwill write-off during the fourth quarter.
Caliper said it expects sales of $25 million to $28 million for the first quarter and $122 million for the full year.
The company also announced a $25 million amended credit facility agreement with Silicon Valley Bank, effective through Nov. 30, 2010.
