LANSING, Mich., July 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Neogen Corporation (Nasdaq: NEOG) today announced a 16% increase in revenues for its 2009 fiscal year, which ended May 31, and a continuation of the company's outstanding record of profitability.

Neogen's revenues for FY 2009 were $118,721,000, up from $102,418,000 in the company's previous fiscal year. The 2009 results reflect changes in currency exchange rates that had an unfavorable impact of $2.7 million on Neogen's international net sales. Net income per share was $0.92 in FY 2009, compared to $0.81 in the prior year. Both revenues and net income for the 2009 fiscal year established new all-time highs for the 27-year-old company.

Neogen's fourth quarter revenues increased 14% on a year-to-year comparison to $30,890,000. Quarterly net income per share was $0.23 for the final FY 2009 three-month period. In the prior year, the company's fourth quarter revenues were $27,119,000 and net income was $0.21 per share. Neogen's fourth quarter was the 65th consecutive profitable quarter from operations for the company, and the 69th quarter of the past 74 quarters to show increased revenues as compared with the previous year.

"We are very pleased to announce these exceptional results in this difficult business environment," said James Herbert, Neogen's chief executive officer and chairman. "Neogen's mission to provide food and animal safety solutions to diverse domestic and international markets has shown some resilience to the economic downturn. We continue to see a world of opportunity ahead for us, and we will continue to execute the growth strategies necessary to seize the opportunities."

For the first time in any fiscal year, Neogen's percentage of sales from international markets exceeded 40% of total revenues. Comparing the FY 2009 financial performance of Neogen's Scotland-based subsidiary to the prior year using British pounds, Neogen Europe recorded an exceptional 26% year-over-year revenue gain. However, when Neogen Europe's current-year revenues are translated into U.S. dollars for purposes of consolidation, its revenue gain is reduced to 3%, reflecting the significant impact on year-over-year comparisons as a result of currency translation.

"Despite the economic challenges that many of our customers encountered during the last quarter of our fiscal year, and the resulting uncertainty for some of our operating divisions, we made significant progress on a number of key objectives," said Lon Bohannon, Neogen's president and chief operating officer. "Our inventories came down $1.5 million during the three-month period that ended May 31, and gross margins improved from 46.8% in our third quarter to 50.1% in our fourth quarter. In addition, we were pleased to see our percentage growth in operating income exceed our percentage growth in revenue for the fourth quarter as we continue to emphasize cost reduction and productivity improvements."

"Cash flow from operations for FY 2009 improved $3.1 million when compared to FY 2008 with much of the improvement coming in the May quarter as a result of improvements in accounts receivable days outstanding and inventory turn," said Richard Current, Neogen's chief financial officer. "We are implementing systems and procedures to make the fourth quarter cash flows a model for FY 2010."

Revenues from the company's Animal Safety segment grew 29% in 2009 compared to the prior year.