Company Announcements

QIAGEN appointed Dr. Håkan Björklund to its Supervisory Board in March, increasing the Board to eight members. He currently serves as Operating Executive at Avista Capital Partners.

In March, Thermo Fisher Scientific filed a motion seeking to move a December 2016 California case brought by Fluidigm naming Thermo Fisher as the defendant to federal court. Fluidigm alleges breach of a patent cross-license agreement.

In March, the US District Court of the Southern District of California granted plaintiff Zef Scientific and defendant Shimadzu Scientific Instruments’ joint motion to dismiss their case with prejudice (see IBO 8/31/14) following a settlement agreement. The original complaint alleged monopolization, restraint of trade, tortious interference with contractual relations, tortious interference with prospective business advantage and unfair competition.

In April, Halma announced that Group Finance Director Kevin Thompson will retire next year.

First quarter sales for Harvard Bioscience fell 10.4%, 5.5% organically, to $24.2 million (see IBO 4/30/17). Sales were negatively impacted by delayed NIH funding and weak European demand. Adjusted operating margin fell nearly five percentage points to 1.3%. The company reaffirmed flat organic sales growth for the year.

Full-year 2016 sales for Eppendorf grew 3.6%, 4.8% excluding currency, to €651.5 million ($723.9 million) (see IBO 4/30/17). The company highlighted strong sales growth in Asia and for services. Despite increased R&D investments, operating margin expanded 240 basis points to 21.4%.

In May, Bioanalytical Systems named Dr. Peter T. Kissinger, founder and former executive chairman and CEO, as a scientific advisor.

First quarter sales for Mettler-Toledo Lab’s business grew 11%, 10% organically, to account for 50% of company revenues, or roughly $300 million (see IBO 5/15/17). Revenue growth benefited from new products and extra selling days in Europe. All product lines and geographic regions experienced growth, including particular strength in China and Europe. Lab sales in the Americas grew 6.5% organically.

Teledyne Technologies reported that first quarter sales for Environmental Instrumentation grew 9.9% to $75.5 million.

Endress+Hauser announced in May that Mathis Büttiker, an attorney specializing in financial investments and wealth management, replaced CFO Fernando Fuenzalida on its Group Supervisory Board effective May 31.

In May, PerkinElmer named Dr. Madhuri Hegde as vice president and CSO of its newly created Laboratory Services group within its Diagnostics business. The Laboratory Services group brings together the company’s global diagnostic lab resources for genetic screening and diagnostics testing. Previously, Dr. Hegde was CSO and executive director of Emory Genetics Lab.

For the fiscal year ending March 31, JEOL Scientific and Measurement Instruments sales declined 10.0% to ¥66.5 billion ($613.8 million) (see IBO 5/15/17) to account for 67% of revenues. Segment operating profit slumped 72.5% to ¥1.3 billion ($11.7 million).

In May, Spectris named Mark Williamson, chairman of Imperial Brands, as non-executive chairman, replacing Dr. John Hughes.

Illumina promoted Mark Van Oene to chief commercial officer. He was previously senior vice president of the Americas region and interim chief commercial officer.

In May, FLIR, a provider of MS and molecular spectroscopy products, named James J. (Jim) Cannon as president and CEO, effective June 19. Most recently, he was president of Stanley Security North America & Emerging Markets, part of Stanley Black & Decker. He will replace Andy Teich, who is retiring.