Trinity Biotech reports drop in revenue in third quarter

WICKLOW-BASED medical diagnostics firm Trinity Biotech has reported revenues of $31.7 million (€21.1 million) for its fiscal third quarter, down 8.2 per cent from $34.5 million for the same period a year ago.

The company said that point-of-care revenues decreased by over 23 per cent, mainly due to a decision not to ship HIV products to a major customer for credit-related reasons.

Clinical laboratory revenues fell by 5.6 per cent over the year but were up by 3.4 per cent compared to the second quarter as a result of a rise in coagulation revenues.

Net income for the quarter increased 131 per cent over the year to $3.1 million, compared to $1.3 million for the same quarter in 2008. Earnings per share (EPS) per share rose from 6.3 cent per share to 14.6 cent per share during the same period.

Gross profit for the third quarter amounted to $14.3 million, representing a gross margin of approximately 45 per cent, the company said.

Operating profit increased to $3.7 million, an increase of more than 85 per cent compared to the same period last year. Trinity added that RD expenses amounted to $1.8 million, a decline of 3 per cent year-on-year.

The company said it generated more than $4.1 million of cash from operations during the quarter. Following a repayment of $3.2 million, it has brought its bank debt to under $30 million.

“Quarter 2, 2009, was the first time that Trinity achieved profits of $3 million in a single quarter and we are very happy to have increased profits further this quarter,” said Trinity’s chief financial officer Kevin Tansley.

The company’s shares were trading at $3.78 on the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York at lunchtime yesterday, down 22 cents on the session.