Bio-Reference Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ: BRLI) (Except for Per Share Data or where otherwise noted, numbers are in thousands) announced that the Company recorded current quarter revenues of $97,424, the best ever quarter in terms of revenues in corporate history and an increase of more than 25% over the $77,776 recorded in the third quarter, fiscal year 2008. Net income after taxes in Q3FY09 was $6,439 resulting in fully diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $.46, up 36% each from the prior fiscal year third quarter net income after taxes of $4,737 and EPS of $.34. Gross profit on revenues for the current quarter was $49,261 resulting in a margin for gross profit on revenues of 51%, versus the $38,606, or 50%, reported for the prior fiscal year third quarter. Revenue per patient for the third quarter of the current fiscal year was $77.61, an increase of 5% over the $74.11 reported for the same quarter of the prior fiscal year. The number of patients served increased 20% to 1,246 in the current quarter from the prior year third quarter total of 1,042. Esoteric business for the Company was 53% of revenues for the third quarter of the current fiscal year. Cash flow from operations for the current fiscal year quarter was more than $11 million. The Company further noted that Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) were 95 days compared to the prior fiscal year same period when the DSO were 108 days.
Nine month revenues increased to $260,342 (all nine month numbers exclusive of a one-time restitution amount recorded in the first quarter of the current year), an increase of 18% over the same period revenues of $219,834 in the prior fiscal year. Net income after taxes for the first nine months of the current year was $13,758 resulting in an EPS of $.99; this was an increase of 33% from the prior year same period net income after taxes of $10,372 which resulted in an EPS of $.74. The Company reported gross profit on revenues for the current nine month period of $127,252, resulting in a margin for gross profit on revenues of 49% compared to the prior year same period of $106,438 which resulted in a margin of 48%. The number of patients served increased 9% to 3,339 in the first nine months of the current year from the prior year same period total of 3,055.
Marc D. Grodman, MD, CEO, commented "A year ago this quarter, we were seeing the first signs of the effects of the national and global crisis reflected in our numbers. This year, we are clearly seeing an easing of those pressures. We saw strong improvement in all aspects of our business operations although some of the favorable comparison numbers are probably related to the changing economic effects on a year over year basis. That being said, there have been several strong positives to note for the quarter. Our growth continues to be driven by our esoteric programs: GenPath, Women’s Health and GeneDx. The clinical business appears to have stabilized and grew this quarter at somewhat higher than historically normal levels. The programs that we have implemented over the past few years to improve cash collection timing have had a positive effect on both DSO and cash flow numbers. These improvements have been the result of systemic improvements and should continue to have an ongoing positive effect."
Dr. Grodman further noted: " It is our firm belief that we have maintained a leadership role in the most exciting areas of laboratory medicine today: Cancer, Genetics and Women’s Health. We are continuing to expand our Women’s Health program across the country and to that end we have continued to increase our Women’s Health sales force. GenPath and GeneDx continue to provide us with dramatic growth opportunities, led by the adoption of new platforms and technologies. We have carefully planned for our growth and have increased both capacity and capacity planning substantially to meet our anticipated needs for the next several quarters. We have several opportunities for growth at this time and we intend to invest in the infrastructure to take advantage of those opportunities. The next few quarters will reflect the effects of these reinvestment plans, but as we have always proven in the past, we believe that the reward will come with continued growth and value to our shareholders."
Dr. Grodman continued: "There is, has been and will continue to be great speculation about the effects of health reform to our industry. While the debate rages on across the country, we are seeing an ongoing need for our services and we believe that our underlying principles will continue to enable us to provide better healthcare through better service and support and regardless of the current debate will enable us to continue to grow and provide industry leadership."
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