Fourteen of the 17 companies in the IBO Laboratory Sales Index reported quarterly earnings before this issue’s publication. Including estimates for Analytik Jena (Analytical Instrumentation and Life Science) Spectris (Materials Analysis) and Tecan, third quarter revenue for the IBO Laboratory Sales Index grew 1.4%, 0.9% excluding currency, to $6,143 million. Operating profit improved 1.7% to $ $1,320 million. Based on continuing operations, operating margin improved 10 basis points to 19.0% of sales.

Affymetrix third quarter sales improved 0.9% to $80.4 million (see page 12). Total Product sales grew 2.9%. Consumables sales advanced 5.8% to account for 90% of revenues. Instrument sales fell 40.4% to make up 3%. Service and Other sales declined 19.6% to account for 7%. Overall, total sales expanded in North America and Europe, but declined in Japan. Adjusted gross profit margin slipped 30 basis points to 59.8% of sales. Despite increased investment for the eBioscience business, adjusted operating profit soared 233.1% to $6.1 million due to lower headcount.

Affymetrix’s Genetic Analysis and Clinical Applications revenue climbed 12.4% to make up 30% of revenues. Sales of cytogenetic products jumped 36% to represent roughly 12% of sales as a result of demand for CytoScan products used for oncology research applications. Genotyping sales were also strong, as Axiom sales jumped 80% to make up roughly 7% of sales due to new products, strong custom array sales and further penetration into the biobanking and ag-bio markets. However, Genotyping sales were partially offset by lower demand for SNP 6.0 arrays. EBioscience sales grew 13.1%, 6% organically, to make up 25% of sales. Half of the reported growth was due to the transfer of Procarta products from the Panomics business. Organic eBioscience sales benefited from demand in Europe and Asia Pacific, while North American sales remained challenged. Expression revenue fell 11.7% to account for 30% of sales, primarily due to lower sales of in vitro transcription arrays in Japan. The transfer of Procarta products and slightly lower instrument sales also contributed to the decline, but was partially offset by demand for new human transcriptome arrays. Overall, Panomics sales were flat. Life Science Reagents sales contracted 4.2% to represent 10% of sales. However, excluding the divested Anatrace product line (see IBO 10/15/13), sales slipped roughly 1% due to lower demand for molecular biology products.

Third quarter sales for Harvard Bioscience fell 3.7%, 3.8% excluding currency, to $25.1 million (see page 12). Bookings slipped 0.4% to $25.7 million. The decline in sales was due to lower shipments to GE Healthcare by the Biochrom and Hoefer businesses and, to a lesser extent, slower Harvard Apparatus revenue because of weak government spending in Europe and the US. However, sales for the Denville Scientific business and BioDrop microvolume spectrophotometer product line grew. Gross profit margin contracted 90 basis points to 45.0% of sales as a result of lower sales volume. Adjusted operating loss was $0.4 million, compared to a profit of $0.6 million. Reported operating profit for the Life Science Research Tools segment fell 13.6% to $2.3 million. The Harvard Apparatus Regenerative Technology business was spun off effective November 1. The company lowered its full-year sales expectations by 3% to $104 million for an annual sales decline of 6%. Fourth quarter sales are expected to be $27–$28 million.

For the third quarter, HORIBA’s Process and Environmental Instruments & Systems (P&E) revenue climbed 17.5%, roughly 10% excluding currency, to ¥3,530 million ($35.7 million = ¥98.89 = $1) (see page 12) to account for 11% of company revenues. Orders soared 34.6% to ¥4,138 million ($41.8 million). Japanese sales fell 9.7% to account for 52% of P&E revenue. Including currency benefits, sales to Asia, the Americas and Europe each grew by strong double digits to make up 20%, 18% and 11%, respectively. P&E operating income grew 12.6% to ¥251 million ($2.5 million). The company maintained the full-year P&E segment revenue and operating income forecasts of ¥14,500 million ($150 million = ¥97 = $1) and ¥1,100 million ($11 million), respectively.

HORIBA’s Scientific Instruments & Systems (SI) segment sales grew 17.4%, roughly 5% excluding currency, to ¥5,251 million ($53.1 million) (see page 12) to account for 16% of company revenues. Orders jumped 36.9% to ¥6,197 million ($62.7 million). Segment operating profit dropped 50.7% to ¥35 million ($0.4 million). Japanese sales fell 9.0% to account for 29% of SI sales. Sales to Asia, the Americas and Europe each grew by double digits due to currency exchange rates to account for 22%, 24% and 25% of segment sales, respectively. SI’s full-year sales forecast was raised 2% to ¥22,500 million ($232 million), and the operating income forecast was unchanged at ¥500 million ($5 million), respectively.

Sales for Luminex’s Technology and Strategic Partnerships (TSP) segment grew 5.5% to $33.3 million to account for 66% of sales (see page 12). Consumables sales grew 0.7% to make up 38% of TSP sales, as lower utilization rates from life science research partners was offset by steady purchase volume from large customers. System sales rose 0.7% to represent 22% of TSP sales. The company shipped 280 multiplexing analyzers during the quarter, including a 6.3% increase in sales of MAGPIX systems to 135 units. LX and FLEXMAP 3D systems accounted for 128 and 17 units sold, respectively. For the third quarter in 2012, 263 of 271 analyzers sold were in the TSP segment. Royalty revenue grew 16.9% to make up 27% of segment sales. Service and Other revenues improved 11.5% and 5.3% to each account for 6% of TSP sales, respectively. Segment gross profit margin fell 446 basis points to 63.7% of sales because of product mix and higher fixed costs. Operating profit climbed 29.0% to $9.3 million due to reduced R&D and incentive compensation expenses. Given the company’s negative outlook for lower research spending in the US, and reimbursement issues for certain diagnostic tests in the Assays and Related Products segment, Luminex cut its full-year sales outlook by 5% to $212–$217 million.

For the fiscal half year ending September 30, 2013, Oxford Instruments’ sales fell 2.6%, 8.0% organically, to £166.3 million ($255.8 million = £0.65 = $1) (see page 12). Acquisitions and currency contributed 4.3% and 1.1% to sales growth, respectively. However, the completion of two large contracts lowered sales growth by 3.5%. Excluding these contracts, organic sales would have declined 4.4%. Orders slipped 1.1% to £168.0 million ($258.5 million), with growth in Europe and Asia, but lower demand in the US. In contrast, total sales in Europe and Asia declined to make up 33% and 36% of revenues, respectively. Sales to North America improved to account for 28%. Adjusted gross margin climbed 40 basis points to 45.0% of sales due to currency and acquisitions. Despite lower operating expenses, adjusted operating income declined 6.8% to £22.0 million ($33.8 million) because of product mix.

For the first half of the year, sales for Oxford’s Nanotechnology Tools (NT) segment contracted 4.7% to make up 46% of sales. This decline was a result of lower US demand and weak sales to the LED markets in Asia during the first quarter. In the second quarter, NT sales grew 10%, driven by higher sales in the NanoAnalysis business, including demand for the AZTEC material characterization systems and for atomic force microscopes in Asia. NT sales were offset by weak LED demand for the Plasma Technology business and sequestration effects in the Omicron NanoScience business. NT operating profit fell 28.2% to £7.4 million ($11.4 million). Industrial Products (IP) segment sales fell 5.7% to represent 35% of revenues. However, excluding the two completed contracts, sales grew by 5%, led by demand for new and existing portable and handheld analyzers in the Industrial Analysis business. In the Industrial Components business, sales of next generation MRI scanners and X-ray systems increased. IP operating income grew 8.0% to £8.1 million ($12.5 million). Service sales grew 10.2% to represent 19% of revenues. Service operating profit climbed 12.1% to £6.5 million ($10.0 million). Given the improvements in the second quarter, including increased orders in Europe and Asia, and a modest recovery in the US, sales for the second half of the year are expected to grow.

Fiscal second quarter 2014, sales for Shimadzu’s Analytical and Measuring Instrument (AMI) division grew 9.6% to ¥44,672 million ($451.7 million = ¥98.89 = $1) to represent 59% of total revenues. However, excluding currency, AMI sales grew in the low single digits. Domestic sales in Japan increased due to higher LC and MS sales. Overall, Japanese demand from pharmaceutical, machinery and transportation equipment markets each improved. Overseas sales benefited from the depreciation of the yen. North American sales were led by demand for LC and high-end MS systems from health care and testing laboratories. Within China, sales of LCs to pharmaceutical customers improved and demand for MS for food safety applications was steady. While, overall, European sales were challenged, demand for LCs by pharmaceutical companies improved in certain European countries, and MS sales to environmental and food safety markets increased. AMI operating profit jumped 59.8% to ¥6,306 million ($63.8 million). The company raised its fiscal 2014 sales and operating income outlook by 2% and 5% to ¥298 billion ($3.1 million = ¥97 = $1 billion) and ¥22 billion ($227 million), respectively.