Dublin-headquartered clinical trials company Icon, which employs more than 1,000 people in Ireland, has said it expects revenues of between $2.73 billion (€2.4 billion) and $2.83 billion this year. This would represent full-year revenue growth of between 5.2 per cent and 9 per cent.
The Nasdaq-listed company, a global provider of drug development solutions and services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries, also said it expects earnings per share in the range of $6.69 and $6.89 for 2019, equivalent to between 10.6 per cent and 13.9 per cent growth versus the prior year
Established in 1990 by Dr John Climax and Dr Ronan Lambe, the company employs 13,680 staff in 37 countries.
The company, which said it repurchased $72 million worth of shares in the final three months of last year, also reaffirmed its guidance for 2018 of revenue in the range of $2.56 billion to $2.64 billion and earnings in the range of $5.98 to $6.12.
Icon said it expects to make repurchases of up to 1 million shares in 2019, depending on cash commitments, to support possible acquisitions.
The company said its 2019 financial guidance was dependent on a number of factors including a US dollar to euro exchange rate of $1.16, an effective tax rate of 12 per cent, $300 million of free cash flow and capital expenditure of about $55 million and the successful outcome for its share buyback programme.
"We expect 2019 to be another robust year of revenue and earnings progression for Icon," said chief executive Steve Cutler.
“In addition to organic growth, we feel we have the strongest balance sheet in the industry and will continue to focus on deploying capital to maximise shareholder value through a combination of M&A and share repurchases,” he added.
