(Source: Omaha World-Herald)
By Virgil Larson, Omaha World-Herald, Neb.
May 16--The impact of foreign currency fluctuations tied to the worldwide recession weighed heavily on Transgenomic Inc. in the first quarter.
Revenue at the Omaha biotechnology company dropped by $1.27 million, about 20 percent.
In just one category of sales, consumable supplies, revenue dropped by $432,000 from the first quarter of 2008 to $1.8 million, Chief Financial Officer Debra Schneider said on a conference call Thursday.
The drop was due primarily to the lowered value of the British pound, Schneider said. The pound was worth $1.42 on March 31, the end of the first quarter, down 29 percent from Jan. 1, 2008.
Instrument sales, which include service contracts, fell by $1.1 million, a drop CEO Craig Tuttle also attributed to the weakened economy.
Revenue in molecular diagnostics laboratory services grew but at a slower pace than in the 2008 quarter, even though the company had 64 more customers for the services than a year earlier.
"We believe this is the result of potential patients delaying diagnostic testing during the current economic tumult," Tuttle wrote in the company's earnings report.
Europe is a major market for Transgenomic, which sells equipment, consumable supplies and laboratory services for DNA research and clinical testing.
The reduced revenue, which came in at $4.99 million, resulted in a $1.08 million swing on the bottom line from a small profit in the 2008 quarter to a $953,000 loss.
The loss was 2 cents on a per-share basis, compared with a year-earlier profit of less than a penny.
--Contact the writer: 444-1081, virgil.larson@owh.com
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