The company agreed to pay $91 million (€75 million) to buy Sweden's NovAseptic AB, which provides processing products for biotechnology and pharmaceutical manufacturing as well as agreeing to pay $9.3 million for MicroSafe BV, a Netherlands-based lab-testing firm.
Martin Madaus, Millipore's CEO, said: "...the company is implementing its growth strategy and continues efforts to both consolidate manufacturing plants and expand research and development."
Despite a revenue increase of 9 per cent over last year, second-quarter earnings fell 16 per cent, due to charges related to executive transition agreements, reorganisation costs and manufacturing consolidation expenses.
Net income fell to $24 million, from $28.5 million, in 2004. Excluding items, the company would have earned 59 cents per share in the latest quarter, flat with year-ago operating profit, compared to 47 cents per share now.
Millipore makes filtration products used in drug manufacturing and development and its financial performance often serves as a barometer of the fortunes of the biopharmaceutical industry.
Its acquisition of NovAseptic AB means the company has acquired the NovaSeptum disposable sampling system, used by biotech and pharmaceutical companies to take fluid samples from their drug manufacturing processes.
The fully closed system eliminates the risk of false positives due to biological contaminants, and greatly improves operator productivity and safety. NovaSeptum has been adopted by a number of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and several new evaluations are in progress.
In addition, Millipore have added expertise in Virus, Mycoplasma and Bacteria Testing and Strengthens Millipore's Growing Services Business by the recent acquisition of MicroSafe, B.V.