Fourth quarter 2006 IBO Life Science Index sales rose 8.7% to $2,124 million. Operating profit for the same period gained 2.8% to $343 million, a steep decline from the previous quarter’s operating profit growth of 19%. Operating margin slipped 110 basis points from 17.2% to 16.1% of revenues. Year-over-year Life Science Index sales increased 7.7% to $7,750 million. Operating profit grew a modest 1.4% to $1,118 million, and operating margin decreased 90 basis points to 14.4%. Biotage AB’s fourth quarter sales declined 1.3% to SEK 136.6 million ($19.2 million = SEK 7.10 = $1) from SEK 138.4 million ($17.4 million = SEK 7.96 = $1), for a 10.7% increase in reported dollars (see page 12). Year-end sales improved 20.7% to SEK 519.5 million ($70.4 million = SEK 7.38 = $1) from SEK 430.4 million ($57.6 million = SEK 7.47 = $1), including organic growth of 9%. Fourth quarter operating income turned to a profit of SEK 10.2 million ($1.4 million) from a loss of SEK 3.3 million ($0.4 million), and year-end operating income improved from a loss of SEK 48.3 million ($6.5 million) to a profit of SEK 11.9 million ($1.6 million). Fourth quarter Biosystems‘ sales improved 15.2% to SEK 25.8 million ($3.6 million), but were offset by a 4.5% drop in Discovery Chemistry revenue to SEK 110.8 million ($15.6 million). Year-end Biosystems‘ revenue improved 12.6% and Discovery Chemistry’s sales gained 22.5% to SEK 89.5 million ($12.1 million) and SEK 430.0 million ($58.3 million), respectively. Full-year sales to the US accounted for 44% of company revenues and grew 2.1%. European and rest of world revenues each jumped 41%, largely due to acquisitions, to represent 42% and 14% of company sales, respectively. Fiscal first quarter revenues for Becton, Dickinson and Company’s Biosciences segment grew 11.3% to $232.8 million, or 9.2% on a currency-neutral basis (see page 12). BD Biosciences’ sales accounted for 15.5% of the company’s total sales. Operating income jumped 14% to $56 million. BD Biosciences’ sales continued to be led by demand for research analyzers and clinical reagents. Discovery Labware’s sales gained 7.5% to account for 27% of BD Biosciences‘ sales. Immunocytometry Systems led the division’s growth with a 14.8% increase in sales to represent 56% of sales, and Pharmingen’s sales improved 6.6% to make up 17% of sales. Sales to the US improved 8.8% to $95.9 million, while international sales gained 14.5% to $136.9 million, or 10.9% on a currency-neutral basis. Segment operating income improved primarily due to increased sales and operating efficiencies. Caliper Life Sciences’ fourth quarter revenues jumped 28.9% to $37.4 million, primarily due to acquisitions (see page 12). However, adjusted operating loss increased to $3.8 million from $1.3 million a year ago. Year-end revenues grew 24.0% to $107.9 million, but operating loss dropped approximately $5 million to $16.3 million. Product sales accounted for 64% of year-end revenues and grew 16%, service revenue represented 23% and jumped nearly 50%, and license fees and contract revenue climbed 29% to make up 13%. Sales of LabChip instruments grew 32% in 2006, but lab automation and liquid handling sales declined due to a lack of OEM sales to Affymetrix. Xenogen product sales contributed $13.7 million to 2006 revenues. Year-end US sales climbed 15% to $67.6 million, European sales rose 40% to $28.2 million, Asian sales grew 60% to $9.5 million and other regional sales rose 12%. Caliper forecasts first quarter revenues of $27–$30 million and year-end revenues of $137–$143 million. Genetix reported year-end revenues of £15.5 million ($28.7 million = £0.54 = $1), 28% higher than 2005 revenues of £12.1 million ($22.1 million = £0.55 = $1) (see page 12). Sales from the acquisition of Applied Imaging (see IBO 11/30/06) contributed £1.9 million ($3.5 million = £0.54 = $1) to total revenues. Operating profit was £2.1 million ($4.0 million) compared to £1.2 million ($2.2 million = £0.54 = $1) a year ago. Instrument sales increased 10.0% to £10.3 million ($21.6 million), led by an 168% increase in sales of cell biology products. Cell biology products accounted for 33% of revenues, excluding Applied Imaging. Consumables and service sales improved 17%, reaching £3.2 million ($6.0 million). Sales to the US represented 8.7% of sales and were flat. European sales grew 48%, while rest of world sales fell 19% due to weakness in Japan. Stratagene’s sales grew 7.2% in the fourth quarter to $24.7 million, excluding a settlement payment of $34.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2005 (see page 12). Adjusted quarterly operating profit declined 41% to $2.3 million. Despite positive fourth quarter sales, year-end revenues declined 0.7% to $95.5 million. Operating profits for the year were affected by net litigation charges of $9.8 million, resulting in a loss of $1.4 million. The Research Supplies segment accounted for 74% of 2006 sales, while Clinical Diagnostics made up 26%. Within the Research Products segment, Quantitative PCR sales increased 5% to make up 23% of total company revenues, Genetic Analysis sales declined 10% to account for 28% of company sales, and Protein Analysis and Cell Biology sales grew 9.8% to make up 17% of company revenues. The company expects modest revenue growth for 2007 from its core research and clinical diagnostics businesses. SEQUENOM’s fourth quarter revenues rose 79% to $7.9 million, while operating profits improved 12% to a loss of $5.6 million (see page 12). Year-over-year sales increased 47% to $28.5 million. Operating loss for the year narrowed to $17.6 million, a recovery of $8 million. Improved sales of the MassARRAY systems and better-quality inventory management helped narrow net losses. Sales of the MassARRAY and related products grew 124%, contributing 46% of sales, while consumables revenues increased 36% to account for 48% of total revenues. SEQUENOM forecasts 2007 sales to be $37–$39 million. Tecan reported a modest 2% increase in fourth quarter revenues to CHF 110.4 million ($84.9 million = CHF 1.30 = $1) from CHF 108.3 million ($83.3 million = CHF 1.30 = $1) in 2005 (see page 12). Year-end revenues climbed 17.7% to CHF 405.9 million ($319.1million = CHF 1.27 = $1). Excluding REMP, year-end sales grew 12.8% to CHF 322.7 million ($258.2 million). Fourth quarter operating profit reached an all-time high of CHF 16.6 million ($12.8) and year-end operating profit jumped 73% to CHF 50.8 million ($39.9 million). Full-year Genomics/Proteomics revenue climbed 19.0% to account for 30% of total sales, Drug Discovery revenue jumped 37% to represent 36% of sales and Diagnostics sales dropped to 1.2% to account for 34% of sales. In local currency, the three divisions’ sales gained 18.6%, 36.8% and 0.7%, respectively. Geographically, North American sales climbed 5.0% to account for 41% of total sales, European sales gained 21.5% to represent 46%, Asia accounted for 9.2% of sales and rose 39.0%, and sales to other countries jumped 159% to account for 3.8% of sales for the year.