The calendar-year first quarter proved to be an outstanding quarter for major analytical instrumentation providers. Growth in key end-markets remained robust. Among end-users, industrial spending, especially in the petrochemical and commodities sectors, continued to fuel instrument demand. Steady spending by big pharmaceutical companies was also reported by providers. Regionally, China and India remained the focal […]

Instrument industry sales should remain stable in the next six months, according to IBO’s Spring Business Climate Survey. Twice a year IBO conducts a survey of analytical instrument companies and associated suppliers. Twenty-four executives were surveyed from companies whose combined sales exceed $5 billion. Fifty-eight percent of the instrument and laboratory product–related company executives who […]

In 2006, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s new disclosure rules for executive compensation went into effect. These rules provide investors with a more accurate outline regarding the compensation of top executives and directors of US public companies. The most significant changes include disclosure of annual total compensation, annual change in pension value and annual, nonqualified […]

In the first quarter of 2007, revenues for IBO’s Laboratory Sales Index grew an impressive 11.6% to $4,101 million. Operation profit jumped 14.0% to $654 million and operating margin climbed 50 basis points to 16% of sales. More than half of the companies realized significant improvements in operating profits, but those were offset by declining […]

Nanotechnology has been a familiar buzzword for a number of years, but the field itself has yet to meet its impressive potential. While there is no shortage of companies involved in nanotechnology, Nanosys, based in Palo Alto, California, has attracted considerable attention since its founding in 2001. In March, Nanosys partnered with Bruker Daltonics for […]

In the first of IBO’s twice yearly surveys of major new or planned laboratories, Asia and India as well as a number of hefty investments by universities throughout the US are highlighted. India’s growing market, lower costs and educated workforce have attracted increased investments in new laboratories in recent years. Not surprisingly, a number of […]

Isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), which is a subset of microcalorimetry, is one of the fastest-growing analytical techniques on the market. The technique’s market, valued at $45 million in 2007, is expected to achieve midteen sales growth over the next few years, while calorimetry sales as a whole are only expected to grow in single digits. […]

Following up on IBO’s examination of manufacturing trends in the industry (see IBO 3/31/07), Singapore continues to be a popular location for manufacturing facilities. This February, Fluidigm launched a Biomedical Product Development Center in Singapore, which will be used for R&D of a new biochip fluorescence reader and biochip loader. Bio-Rad unveiled a 20,000 square […]