In 2017, the top 30 analytical and life science instrument, aftermarket and lab product businesses recorded $40.7 billion in revenues in US dollars—counting only the sales of products in  the 10 technology categories in IBO’s annual forecast issue and thus not the entire company’s sales. In total, these businesses’ revenues accounted for 74% of total industry sales last year.

The figures presented in this article are based on revised estimates by IBO and thus are not directly comparable to prior years’ top 30 rankings. The revised estimates are based on recalculations of counted sales based on updated information and adjustments.

All sales figures are presented in US dollars. Conversion of foreign currency sales into US dollars affected ranking. In particular, the weak yen against the US dollar accounted for lower sales growth for the Japanese businesses. In total, the top 30 list consists of 10 European businesses and 7 Japanese businesses.

As in previous years, Thermo Fisher Scientific was a dominant force, representing 16% of the total industry revenues, with its 2017 sales nearly triple those of the number 2 firm Agilent Technologies. Among the top 30 companies only, Thermo Fisher represented 21% of revenues.

Altogether, in 2017, the top 5 businesses represented 38% of industry revenues, and the top 10 represented 53%. Although the industry in general remains fragmented, the largest companies have steadily grown their share of sales. In fact, 12 of the top 30 businesses generate annual revenues of more than $1 billion. Average sales for the top 30 was more than $1.3 billion in 2017.

Each company has arrived at its position in part through major acquisitions completed in the last 12 years. These acquisitions include Thermo Fisher’s 2006 purchase of Fisher Scientific, Invitrogen (see IBO 4/15/13) and FEI (see IBO 5/31/16). For Agilent, the company added $1 billion in sales with the acquisition of Varian (see IBO 7/31/09). Among Danaher’s many purchases were Leica Microsystems in 2005, SCIEX (see IBO 9/15/09) and Phenomenex (see IBO 10/15/16).

More notable is that each of the above companies have increased its sales. Besides strong high-growth markets such as MS and life science instrumentation, the companies have focused on expanding their consumables and service businesses, contributing to revenue growth. This is also true of most of the top 30 companies. In fact, among the top 10 businesses, only Danaher, Bruker and Shimadzu can be described as having relatively smaller aftermarket businesses.

The only top 30 businesses to record declining sales in 2017 following readjusted calculations were Oxford Instruments and HORIBA.