The Medical Device Business Journal — Medical Device News & Articles | MassDevice
Agilent Technologies Inc.’s (NYSE:A) embarrassment of riches turned out to be a boon for Bruker Corp. (NSDQ:BRKR) too.
The companies announced the completion of a deal to sell Billerica, Mass.-based Bruker three business units of Varian Inc. so Agilent can comply with European anti-trust laws. Agilent acquired its Palo, Alto, Calif.-based instrument-making subsidiary in July 2009 for a reported $1.5 billion.
Paced by 16.2 percent revenue growth during the fourth quarter, Bruker Corp. (NSDQ:BRKR) reported $43.6 million in profits during the three months ended Dec. 31, 2009.
The 66 percent jump in net income, compared with year-ago levels, on $366.4 million in revenues translated into 26 cents per share, beating even the most optimistic bottom-line forecasts by analysts. Company officials said they anticipate profit growth of at least 15 percent this year within Bruker’s primary scientific instruments operating unit, which would work out to net income of $93.4 million or more during 2010.
When Bruker Corp. (NSDQ:BRKR) gave a presentation to analysts Jan. 13, it painted a rosy picture for its fourth-quarter results, saying revenues would exceed both its previous forecasts and analysts’ expectations.
Today the Billerica, Mass.-based lab and imaging equipment maker said Q4 results will be even better than that, predicting sales in excess of $355 million for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2009. That’s a 4.4 percent improvement over the $340 million in Q4 sales predicted back in January and a darn sight better than the $329.4 million Bruker posted in Q4 2008.
Bruker Corp. (NSDQ:BRKR) likely generated more than $340 million in revenues during the fourth quarter, beating both year-ago levels and consensus analyst opinion for the period, according to company officials.
The preliminary revenue figures for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2009, were reported Jan. 13 as part of an investor presentation by Bruker executives at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. During their prepared remarks, CEO Frank Laukien and chief accounting officer Brian Monahan said the firm finished 2009 with a “healthy” order backlog and is beginning to see a gradual recovery in industrial orders.
Bruker Corp. (NSDQ:BRKR) tapped Urban Faeh to be president of its optics division and managing director of Bruker Optik GmbH in Ettlingen, Germany, Faeh’s home base.
Faeh replaces Dirk Laukien, a scion of one of the company’s founding families, who stepped down from day-to-day involvement in the Billerica, Mass.-based imaging and lab equipment maker’s operations but retained his seat on its board.
Bruker Detection Corp. has begun the final phase of development on monitors designed to detect hazardous chemical vapors in government buildings and other facilities.
Included in the Phase III-b testing are field trials of the device inside airports, subways, train stations or other high-traffic venues. The tests are being funded by the Science & Technology Directorate of the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security under a special program to develop new counter-terrorism tools for first responders and other DHS personnel.
As predicted, government stimulus spending intended to jumpstart the global economy did the trick for Bruker Corp. (NSDQ:BRKR) in the second half of 2009, as the company recorded nearly $70 million in sales derived from global stimulus packages.
Billerica, Mass.-based Bruker manufactures analytic tools such as X-ray systems, spectrometers and magnetic resonance imaging instruments. The company has been saying since early 2009 that it expected to profit from the various stimulus programs being implemented by governments across the globe to stimulate the faltering economy.
