Fiscal fourth quarter sales ending September 30 for Brooks Automation’s Life Science Systems (LSS) segment climbed 77.4% to $20.0 million to account for 16% of company sales. Excluding the acquisition of Matrical (see IBO 7/31/13), sales grew 63% driven by demand for automated sample-management systems and services. Including the acquisition, Product and Service revenue grew 94.2% and 37.5% to make up 77% and 23% of LSS revenues, respectively. LSS adjusted gross margin improved 300 basis points to 40.2% of sales as a result of improved manufacturing efficiency. Adjusted operating profit was just above breakeven, compared to a loss of $3.5 million a year ago. LSS orders were $12.5 million, and backlog amounted to $44.0 million.

Fiscal 2014 Brooks LSS segment revenue climbed 45.9%, 32% excluding the acquisition, to $63.1 million to account for 13% of company sales. Sales of cold-storage systems accounted for roughly 50% of LSS revenue, while combined consumables and instruments sales made up approximately 25%. Service revenues accounted for 26%. Adjusted LSS gross margin declined 100 points to 41.0% of sales. Adjusted operating loss narrowed 28.9% to $5.9 million. Fiscal 2015 LSS sales are projected to grow 27% to $80 million.

Third quarter Pacific Biosciences sales soared 177.9% to $20.6 million, including $11.7 million in Contractual revenue from Roche. Excluding these payments, sales grew 20.3%. Product revenue climbed 16.3% to account for 33% of sales due to the installation of six PacBio RS II systems. The company also booked orders for 16 systems during the quarter for a total of 20 units in backlog. Service and Other revenue expanded 34.7% to make up 10% of sales. Operating loss narrowed 57.8% to $8.4 million. Given the strong instrument backlog and $10 million milestone payment from Roche, the company raised its 2014 revenue growth outlook from 70% to more than 100% to over $58 million.

QIAGEN third quarter adjusted and currency-neutral sales grew 4.0%, 3% excluding acquisitions, to $336.5 million. Growth was hindered by US HPV sales, which contracted 46%. Excluding HPV products, total sales grew 10% on a currency-neutral basis. All sales figures below exclude currency. Instruments, and consumables and related revenues advanced 11% and 3% to account for 13% and 87% of revenues, respectively. Molecular Diagnostics (MD) revenue grew 6% to make up 52% of sales, but jumped 19% excluding HPV products. Applied Testing and Pharmaceutical sales grew 7% and 4% to make up 9% and 19% of sales, respectively. Academia sales were flat to account for 21%. Sales in Europe/Middle East/Africa jumped 13% to make up 33% of sales, driven by demand from Nordic regions and Turkey. Sales in Asia-Pacific/Japan grew 6% to account for 19%, including double-digit growth in China and Korea. Sales in the Americas declined 3% to make up 47% due to lower HPV product demand, as well as timing of orders in Brazil and Mexico. Excluding HPV products, sales in the Americas grew 9%. Adjusted gross margin advanced 83 basis points to 72.5% of revenue. Adjusted operating profit expanded 6.7% to $84.8 million. The company projected 2014 currency-neutral revenue growth of 4%, which was at the low end of its previous forecast of 4%–5%.