Inverness Medical Innovations, Inc. (NYSE:IMA) gave itself a makeover at a July 14 shareholder meeting.
Company stockholders approved the company’s name change to Alere Inc. (NYSE:ALR).
The Waltham, Mass.-based diagnostics firm created the brand Alere in 2008 after acquiring Alere Medical, ParadigmHealth and Matria Healthcare and merging them under a single umbrella. The company said it expects its NYSE stock symbol to change from IMA to ALR July 19.
When the proposed change was announced in May, CEO Ron Zwanziger said the move is aimed at unifying its many subsidiaries under a single, customer-facing brand.
Meet the new Inverness
The Alere name is derived from the Latin alo, or “nurture,” was tapped after “extensive research with investors, customers and industry experts,” Zwanziger said, adding that the moniker “already benefits from recognition within the healthcare community by providers and patients alike” via its Alere health management services division.
The company posted first-quarter net income of $9.0 million, or 10 cents per diluted share, on revenues of $515.3 million during the three months ended March 31. That’s a more than 1,064 percent increase in profits compared with the $771,000, or 1 cent per diluted share, Inverness reported during Q1 2009. Revenues were up 21.2 percent compare with $425.2 million during the year-ago quarter.
