Danaher Q1 Revenues Up 4 Percent

Danaher reported recetly a 4 percent year over year  increase in total revenues paced by a 10 percent jump in the Life Sciences business.

For the three months ending March 29, total revenues were $4.88 billion compared to $4.70 billion in the year-ago period. It beat the analysts' average estimate of $4.79 billion.

Core revenue growth was 5.5 percent year over year. M&A added 2.5 percent to growth while currency effects decreased revenues by 4 percent, the firm said.

Revenue growth was driven by Danaher's Life Sciences business, the largest of its four businesses, where revenues increased to $1.63 billion in Q1 2019 from $1.48 billion in Q1 2018, the company said in its 10-Q filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Meanwhile, the Diagnostics business inched up 1 percent year over year to $1.54 billion from $1.52 billion.

In Life Sciences, Beckman Coulter Life Sciences core revenues were up in the double digits, Danaher President and CEO Thomas Joyce said on a conference call, with broad-based strength across most major regions and product lines.

Meanwhile, Sciex, which houses the mass spectrometry business, was up in the low single digits.

In Diagnostics, Beckman Coulter Diagnostics core revenues grew in the mid-single digits, led by immunoassays and automation, Joyce said, adding Danaher is seeing early positive impact in hematology from new product introductions. He noted, in particular, that Beckman Coulter recently received 510(k) clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration for its DxH 520 hematology analyzer, which is designed for low-volume laboratories.

Joyce further highlighted that new products for the low- and mid-volume laboratories will be forthcoming over the next year to two years, along with new menus.