Bio-Rad buoyed by 2Q figures

Bio-Rad Laboratories appears to have defied the often-reported turndown in the life sciences supply industry with a healthy hike in second quarter sales and profits.

The company, which specialises in technologies used in research laboratories and the development of clinical diagnostics, saw its second-quarter sales rise 13 per cent to $244 million (€212m), buoyed by the effect of a weakening US dollar compared to the same period of 2002, while net income shot up by 29 per cent to $21 million. Sales at constant currencies were up 4 per cent.

Sales rose across both of Bio-Rad's main businesses with turnover at the Clinical Diagnostics unit up by 13.9 per cent and rising 13.5 per cent in Life Sciences. Growth in clinical diagnostics was driven by products for quality control, blood screening and diabetes monitoring, while for life sciences the best-performing lines were the nucleic acid amplification, microarray and electrophoresis product categories, as well as products directed at biopharmaceutical production.

For the first half, sales rose 15 per cent to $489 million year-on-year, while net income was up 35 per cent to $47.3 million.

Norman Schwartz, Bio-Rad's chief executive, said: "During the second half of the year, our focus will be on the introduction of a number of new products, improving operating efficiencies and restructuring our financing."​

During the second quarter, Bio-Rad introduced a new D-10 diabetes testing system and received US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance for its Aspergillus​ test, the first such test available in the USA.