First quarter revenue growth for IBO’s Laboratory Instrument Sales Index slowed to 0.7%, 1.9% excluding currency, to $5,912 million. Operating profit declined 2.9% to $1,215 million, and operating margin fell 80 basis points to 17.9% of sales. Financial estimates are included for Oxford Instruments, Spectris and Tecan, which have yet to report first quarter financial data. SDIX was removed from the Index following the proposed sale of its Life Science business (see IBO 4/15/13).

Affymetrix first quarter sales climbed 19.5% to $77.9 million, but fell 9.7% excluding the acquisition of eBioscience (see IBO 6/30/12). Core Consumable and Instrument revenues declined 8.7% and 27.0% to account for 63% and 4% of sales, respectively. EBioscience sales grew 1.8% on a currency-neutral basis to make up 24% of revenues, including 9% growth in Europe but lower sales in the US and Japan. Pricing pressure and the transition to a direct sales force in Japan negatively impacted eBioscience sales. Service and Other revenue declined 5.4% to make up 8%. By business unit, Expression sales slumped 28.9% to account for 29% of sales due to weaker-than-expected demand for in vitro transcription arrays and slightly lower sales of Panomics products and instrumentation. Genetic Analysis and Clinical Applications (GACA) sales grew 15.5% to make up 28% of revenues, including more than 40% and 100% growth in sales of Cytogenetic and Axiom products, respectively. Cytogenetic product sales accounted for roughly 10% of total revenues. However, GACA sales growth was offset 14.9% and 3.7% due to lower sales of SNP 6.0 arrays and instrumentation, respectively. Life Science Reagents sales improved 1.3% to account for 11% of sales. Adjusted operating profit was $2.4 million, compared with a loss of $0.9 million due to cost saving measures. Adjusted gross profit margin improved 20 basis points to 59.0% of sales. For 2013, eBioscience and Life Science sales are each projected to grow in the low to mid-single digits and GACA sales are expected to grow 15%–20%.

Analytik Jena fiscal second quarter sales slipped 1.0% to €22.6 million ($29.8 million = €0.76 = $1) (see page 12). Sales in Germany and Asia declined 11.7% and 1.4% to account for 25% and 42% of sales, respectively. Sales to other European countries and America improved 5.3% and 23.9% to represent 22% and 8%, respectively. Operating profit declined 2.4% to €1.4 million ($1.8 million). Gross profit margin improved 50 basis points to 51.3% of sales. Analytical Instrument revenue declined 3.2% to account for 66% of sales. Segment operating profit improved 3.3% to $1.8 million ($2.3 million). Life Science revenue grew 7.9% to represent 29% of sales, and operating loss narrowed 45.1% to $0.2 million ($0.3 million). Fiscal 2013 sales are expected to reach more than €100 million ($132 million), including organic growth for the Life Science segment.

Harvard Bioscience first quarter revenues contracted 7.9%, 8.5% organically, to $26.1 million (see page 12). The acquisition of AHN Biotechnologie (see IBO 4/30/12) contributed 0.9% to sales growth, while currency lowered revenue growth by 0.3%. Spending delays in the US resulted in lower organic sales for the Harvard Apparatus, Biochrom and Hoefer businesses. Adjusted operating income fell 75.6% to $0.5 million due to increased R&D investments for the Regenerative Medicine Device business. Gross profit margin slipped 30 basis points to 47.0% of sales due to product mix and lower sales volume. Despite weaker-than-expected results for the first quarter, the company projected higher revenue and operating profit for the core Life Science Research Tools business in 2013.

Luminex first quarter revenues grew 9.2% to $53.2 million. However, including the $2 million in advanced assay purchases shipped to distributors in the fourth quarter 2012, total sales would have increased 12%. These orders were a result of the company’s transition to a direct molecular diagnostic sales force. Assay revenue advanced 5.9%, 15% including the adjustment, to make up 34% of sales. Including the advanced purchases, sales of infectious disease products grew in the mid-teens to make up 62% of Assay revenue, and genetic assay sales grew in the high teens to account for 38%. Royalty revenue, which included 69% from diagnostic partners and 31% from life science research partners, climbed 22.6% to account for 19% of sales. Other revenue soared 76.9% to represent 8% of sales due to a $1 million milestone payment from Merck to develop a companion diagnostic test (see IBO 4/30/13). Service revenue expanded 10.6% to make up 4%. Overall, Consumable revenue was flat to account for 22% of sales. Systems revenue fell 6.3% to make up 12% due to product mix. The number of multiplexing analyzers shipped was similar to a year ago at 205; however, placements of MAGPIX and automated punching systems each climbed 31% to 72 units and 17 units, respectively. Adjusted operating profit slipped 1.8% to $6.6 million, but gross margin improved 200 basis points to 71.3% of sales.

First quarter revenue for Luminex Technology and Strategic Partnerships segment grew 5.5% to $31.9 million, and operating income rose 6.2% to $7.7 million due to lower R&D expenses. Sales for the Assays and Related Products (ARP) segment grew 15.2%, 26% adjusted for advanced purchases, to $21.3 million. Despite increased personnel expenses, adjusted ARP operating income improved from a small loss to roughly breakeven. Luminex reaffirmed its 2013 revenue forecast of $220–$230 million for growth of 9%–14%.

Fiscal fourth quarter sales for Shimadzu Analytical and Measuring Instrument (AMI) division declined 3.5% to ¥48.0 billion ($520.0 million = ¥92.32 = $1) to represent 60% of company revenues (see page 12). AMI operating profit declined 13.3% to ¥7.0 billion ($75.3 million) due to the stronger yen. For the fiscal year ending March 31, AMI sales improved 0.4% to ¥153.9 billion ($1.85 billion = ¥83.07 = $1) to represent 58% of company revenues. AMI operating profit fell 23.9% to ¥12.6 billion ($152.1 million). Japanese sales declined due to lower capital spending by pharmaceutical and chemical customers, but were partially offset by higher MS sales, driven by new high-end systems and replacement orders from government and academic markets. North American sales were strong due to increased demand for MS from academic and testing laboratories. While Chinese sales were negatively impacted by China’s adverse business relations with Japan, sales of MS and spectrophotometers expanded due to increased food inspection activity. In Southeast Asia, LC sales were strong. European markets remained challenged.