Haemonetics (NYSE:HAE) finished out its 2015 fiscal 4th quarter in the red, hammered by a U.S. market shift that affected its blood center business, uncertainty in Russia, currency fluctuations and restructuring.
The Massachusetts medtech company said it lost more than $2.9 million, or -6¢ per share, during the quarter ended March 28, compared with profits of $10.2 million, or 47¢ per share, during the fiscal 2014 4th quarter. Revenues also dipped, falling -6.1% to $226.5 million compared with the prior-year period.
Adjusted to exclude 1-time items, earnings per share were 47¢, a full nickel under Wall Street’s consensus forecast.
For fiscal 2015, profits fell -51.9% to $16.9 million, or 32¢ per share, on a -3.0% sales slide to $910.4 million compared with fiscal 2014.
Haemonetics said it faced hits from declines in blood center revenue in Europe and Latin America. A 29% drop in equipment and other revenue during Q4, driven by economic weakness in Russia, also didn’t help. Revenues grew slightly in the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Japan), Haemonetics said, but sales were flat in North America and declined at a double-digit clip declines in Europe and Japan.
"Fiscal 2015 was a year of transition as we absorbed the negative impact of the U.S. market share shift that affected our blood center business, an uncertain Russian market and currency headwinds," president & CEO Brian Concannon said in prepared remarks.
The company said it spent $39 million buying back nearly 1.2 million shares of its own stock during fiscal 2015, leaving $61 million under its buyback authorization for this fiscal year.
Haemonetics said it expects to post adjusted EPS of $1.98 to $2.08 on sales growth of 4% to 6%.
HAE shares slid -3.9% to a $41.68 close yesterday and were down another -0.5% today, trading at $41.49 apiece in mid-morning activity.