Caliper Life Sciences Inc. posted first-quarter sales of $28.5 million, down 2.8 percent compared with $29.3 million during the same period last year.
The Hopkinton contract research organization said the comparison includes $2.9 million in revenues from divested product lines during the 2008 first quarter; absent those revenues, sales rose nearly 8 percent.
Caliper managed to narrow its net loss to $6.6 million during the quarter ended March 31, a 33 percent improvement on the $9.9 million net loss it posted during the first quarter of 2008.
That’s partly due to reductions in research and development and selling, general and administrative expenses, which fell by 2.9 percent and 8.3 percent, respectively.
But negative foreign exchange rates hit the top line during the quarter, causing a 4 percent slide compared to the same period in 2008, and gross margin slipped 1 percent on the loss of service revenues from the divested product lines.
President and CEO Kevin Hrusovsky said the results are a payoff from company’s two-year “strategic reconfiguration,” adding that Caliper expects to deliver positive earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in 2010.
The company said it expects sales of $28 million to $31 million during the second quarter.