SUNNYVALE, Calif., Aug. 6, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dionex Corporation (Nasdaq:DNEX) today announced net sales and earnings for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 and for the full year ended June 30, 2009.
For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009, sales were $94.2 million, a decrease of 5% compared with the $98.7 million reported in the fourth quarter of last year. Currency fluctuations decreased sales by $6.5 million, or 7%, for the fourth quarter compared with the same period last year. Diluted earnings per share were $0.63 for the fourth quarter, a decrease of 17%, compared with the $0.76 reported in the fourth quarter of last year.
For the full year ended June 30, 2009, sales were $385.0 million, an increase of 2% compared with the $377.5 million reported for the last fiscal year. Currency fluctuations decreased sales by $10.7 million, or 3%, for the full year compared with the full fiscal year 2008. Diluted earnings per share were $3.04, an increase of 10% compared with the $2.77 reported for the full fiscal year 2008.
During the quarter, the Company repurchased 246,338 shares of its common stock for $14.2 million. In the full fiscal year 2009, the Company repurchased a total of 791,517 shares of its common stock for $44.2 million.
Frank Witney, President and Chief Executive Officer, commenting on the quarter, said, "I am very happy to have joined Dionex. We have a great team of people, an industry leading product portfolio and a strong customer base. I feel confident that we are positioned well for future growth. Looking at our fourth quarter results, we reported good local currency sales growth as we grew 2% excluding the negative impact of currency fluctuations. Our operating income and EPS performance suffered somewhat this quarter as we reported a lower gross profit margin. The lower gross profit margin was largely due to the correction of two immaterial accounting errors that occurred in prior quarters and to a lesser extent strategic pricing this quarter in certain geographic regions. We tightly managed our operating expenses and were able to offset some of the margin decline. For the full year, we are pleased to report sales growth of 2% especially given a very difficult economic environment in which we operated for the last three quarters and a negative currency impact that affected sales by 3%. In addition, we were able to leverage these positive sales results into a double digit increase in diluted earnings per share.
"We are pleased that we continued to achieve growth in our major end-user markets of life sciences and environmental and very strong growth in food and beverage in the fourth quarter. We saw a decline in demand from our chemical/petrochemical, electronics and power customers due to weak economic conditions.
"Sales performance by geographic region was mixed this quarter. Sales in North America declined 10% in the fourth quarter, reflecting a very difficult economic environment that affected our three largest customer markets, environmental, life sciences and chemical/petrochemical. Sales in Europe decreased 12% in reported dollars, but were flat in local currency, consistent with the third quarter performance. Sales in our Asia/Pacific region grew 11% in the fourth quarter in reported dollars and 16% in local currency. We achieved strong sales growth in both China and Korea. We also saw strong growth in our South American markets.
"Sales of our ion chromatography products were down 5% in the fourth quarter as weaker demand in Europe and North America was only partially offset by strong demand for our IC instrumentation and consumables in the Asia/Pacific region. We experienced a decline of 4% in HPLC products where strong growth in Asia/Pacific and Europe was offset by weaker demand in North America. Both product lines grew in local currency in the fourth quarter.
"Throughout the last three quarters of fiscal 2009, we have seen the impact of a weak global economy which impacted our reported financial results. We estimate that net sales will be in the range of $85-$88 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2010 and that diluted earnings per share will be in the range of $0.50-$0.54 per share. For the full year, we estimate that sales will be in the range of $385-$393 million and diluted earnings per share will be $3.01-$3.10. Among the assumptions on which our guidance is based are: (1) currency rates will have a negative impact on sales for the first quarter with a slightly positive impact in the remaining quarters of fiscal 2010; (2) our gross margin will be in the range of 66-67% for fiscal 2010, as the one-time items in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 will not recur; (3) our operating expenses will increase slightly faster than sales due to our global IT initiatives, (4) our tax rate for fiscal year 2010 should be in the range of 34%-35%, and (5) the current economic weakness will continue to affect our results for at least the first two quarters of fiscal year 2010 and we anticipate some recovery in the second half of the fiscal year."
Dionex Corporation is a leading manufacturer and marketer of chromatography systems for chemical analysis. The Company's systems are used in environmental analysis and by the life sciences, food and beverage, chemicals, petrochemicals, power generation and electronics industries in a variety of applications.
Management of the Company will discuss the fourth quarter results in a conference call on Thursday, August 6, 2009, at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time (PT). To listen to the call live, please tune into the webcast via www.dionex.com. A playback of the conference call will be available from 8:00 a.m. PT, Friday, August 7, 2009 until 5:00 p.m. PT, Wednesday, September 30, 2009.
Certain statements contained herein that are not purely historical (such as statements related to the Company's future plans and prospects including its sales and earnings growth estimates) may be deemed to be forward-looking statements which are subject to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements regarding future events and the future financial performance of the Company that involve risks and uncertainties. Readers are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are only predictions and may differ materially from actual future events or results due to a variety of factors including: foreign currency fluctuations, demand for analytical instrumentation, economic conditions in the areas in which the company sells its products, and competition from other products and other factors listed in the Company's most recent reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q. The financial information contained in this release should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in the Company's most recent reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q, each as it may be amended from time to time. The Company's results of operations for the fourth quarter and full year ended June 30, 2009 are not necessarily indicative of the Company's operating results for any future periods. Any projections in this release are based on limited information currently available to the Company, which is subject to change. Although any such projections and the factors influencing them will likely change, the Company will not necessarily update the information, since the Company will only provide guidance at certain points during the year. Such information speaks only as of the date of this release.
DIONEX CORPORATION
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME
(In thousands, except per share amounts)
(Unaudited)
Three Months Twelve Months
Ended Ended
June 30, June 30,
----------------- -------------------
2009 2008 2009 2008
-------- -------- --------- ---------
Net sales $94,176 $98,721 $385,048 $377,538
Cost of sales 34,285 32,397 128,651 126,756
-------- -------- --------- ---------
Gross profit 59,891 66,324 256,397 250,782
-------- -------- --------- ---------
Operating expenses:
Selling, general and
administrative 35,427 38,331 143,171 142,545
Research and product
development 7,243 7,437 28,979 28,943
-------- -------- --------- ---------
Total operating expenses 42,670 45,768 172,150 171,488
-------- -------- --------- ---------
Operating income 17,221 20,556 84,247 79,294
Interest income, net 138 279 807 1,334
Other expense (891) (690) (1,781) (2,230)
-------- -------- --------- ---------
Income before taxes on income 16,468 20,145 83,273 78,398
Taxes on income 5,030 5,919 27,818 25,598
-------- -------- --------- ---------
Net income $11,438 $14,226 $ 55,455 $ 52,800
======== ======== ========= =========
Basic earnings per share $ 0.64 $ 0.78 $ 3.10 $ 2.85
======== ======== ========= =========
Diluted earnings per share $ 0.63 $ 0.76 $ 3.04 $ 2.77
======== ======== ========= =========
Shares used in computing
per share amounts:
Basic 17,789 18,218 17,903 18,506
======== ======== ========= =========
Diluted 18,107 18,761 18,228 19,072
======== ======== ========= =========
DIONEX CORPORATION
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
AT JUNE 30, 2009 AND JUNE 30, 2008
(In thousands)
(Unaudited)
June 30, June 30,
2009 2008
--------- ---------
ASSETS
Current assets:
Cash, cash equivalents and short term
investments $ 70,325 $ 75,701
Accounts receivable, net 70,535 74,436
Inventories 31,274 31,627
Other current assets 34,088 25,276
--------- ---------
Total current assets 206,222 207,040
Property, plant and equipment, net 71,927 72,335
Goodwill and other intangible assets 37,860 33,133
Other assets 13,975 17,922
--------- ---------
$329,984 $330,430
========= =========
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
Current liabilities:
Notes payable $ -- $ 21,805
Accounts payable 16,609 16,086
Accrued liabilities 53,781 53,563
Income taxes payable 4,581 5,873
Accrued product warranty 3,028 3,444
--------- ---------
Total current liabilities 77,999 100,771
Deferred income taxes and other 29,571 32,910
Stockholders' equity 222,414 196,749
--------- ---------
$329,984 $330,430
========= =========