ZOLL Medical reports revenues for first-quarter of fiscal 2010

Jan 28 2010

ZOLL Medical Corporation (NasdaqGS: ZOLL), a manufacturer of resuscitation devices and software solutions, today announced that revenues for the first quarter of fiscal 2010 increased 18% to $105,212,000, compared to revenues in the first quarter of last year of $89,462,000. Revenue results included a positive foreign exchange impact of approximately $2.3 million compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2009. The results include approximately $4.6 million of revenue derived from our new Temperature Management business, whose assets were acquired from Alsius Corporation in May 2009. Net income was $2,310,000 for the quarter, compared to $2,894,000 in the prior year. Diluted earnings per share were $0.11, compared to $0.14 in the prior year. Backlog at the end of the first quarter was approximately $17.0 million, as compared to $8.3 million at the end of Q1 2009.

First quarter sales to the North American market were $75.5 million, an increase of 15% compared to $65.7 million for the prior-year period. Sales to the North American hospital market, including $2.7 million related to our newly acquired Temperature Management business, increased 22% to $24.8 million, compared to $20.3 million for the same period last year. North American hospital revenues included US Military/Big Government sales of $6.5 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2010 compared to $5.6 million for the same period in the prior year. Sales to the North American pre-hospital market increased 14% to $44.6 million, compared to $39.1 million in the prior year. International sales, including $1.9 million related to Temperature Management, increased 25% to $29.8 million, compared to $23.8 million last year. LifeVest® revenues increased 73% to $14.9 million. Total AutoPulse® sales decreased 13% to $3.9 million, compared to $4.5 million in the first quarter of last year.

Gross margin for the first quarter was 53%, compared to 52% in the first quarter of fiscal 2009. The increase reflected an increased mix of sales from the LifeVest product and the positive impact from foreign exchange on foreign sales, partially offset by inclusion of our early-stage temperature management product sales.

Richard A. Packer, Chief Executive Officer of ZOLL, commented, “We are pleased to have achieved such strong growth, even with some parts of our business still awaiting a resumption of buying. Our revenue growth in Q1 was primarily driven by growth in the LifeVest, Temperature Management and International businesses. However, the North American Hospital and Pre-hospital businesses continue to face spending constraints within the capital equipment market.”

Commenting further on the year, Mr. Packer stated, “While the North American Hospital and EMS environments continue to be challenging, revenues for those markets in total were consistent with the first quarter of 2009. We did receive a modest benefit from sales of Welch Allyn AED products in AED sales. The military business also had a good quarter and was consistent with the prior year. As we outlined going into this year, if the core business simply remains flat while we await a spending rebound, we expect the growth businesses would be strong enough to achieve this year’s plans. This is what occurred in Q1.”

Mr. Packer concluded, “Overall, North American Hospital sales were a small step in the right direction, and the LifeVest and Temperature Management are continuing to gain momentum, and perform impressively. Moving through the year, we expect to increase our level of profitability as we gain leverage in these high growth businesses. We believe we are on track for the year and our outlook for 2010 is unchanged.”

ZOLL will host a conference call on Thursday, January 28, 2010 at 10:30 a.m. EST to discuss its first quarter financial results. This conference call will be accessible on the Company’s home page at www.zoll.com. Recorded replays of this conference call will be available on the web page beginning later that day.