Exhibit 99.1
October 20, 2003 | Contact: Craig A. McCollam | |
Dionex Corporation | ||
(408) 481-4107 |
DIONEX REPORTS RECORD FIRST QUARTER RESULTS
FOR RELEASE MONDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2003 1:05 P.M. PDT
Sunnyvale, California — Dionex Corporation (NASDAQ: DNEX) today announced revenues and earnings for its first quarter ended September 30, 2003.
Sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2004 were $53.3 million, an increase of 13% compared to the $47.3 million reported in first quarter of fiscal 2003. The favorable impact of currency fluctuations increased sales by 5% for the quarter. Operating income for the quarter grew 24% to 22% of sales. Diluted earnings per share were $.35, an increase of 21% compared to the $.29 reported last year. Cash flow from operations was also very strong totaling approximately $13 million, or 25% of sales.
During the first quarter, the Company repurchased 282,100 shares of its common stock.
A. Blaine Bowman, Chairman of the Board, commenting on the results, said, “We are very pleased with our first quarter results. These results are records for a first quarter in both sales and earnings per share. They also continue a string of six consecutive quarters of strong growth in sales and earnings. In each of our major geographic regions and across all of our major product lines, we again experienced solid growth. We believe that we have good momentum heading into our second quarter.”
Lukas Braunschweiler, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “We experienced very strong growth in the first quarter. Our North American business increased sales in the mid teens, with particularly strong results from the government sector. Europe reported another quarter of solid growth, as sales grew in the mid teens in reported growth and mid-single digits in local currency. Our Asia/Pacific region grew nicely with sales growing in the high-single digits. We also saw continued strong growth in both our IC and HPLC product lines.
“We continued to experience strong dynamics in our key life sciences and environmental markets. In our other markets, we reported solid results with all of our markets growing, except power.
“Looking at the second quarter of fiscal 2004, we estimate that sales will be in the range of $60-$62 million and earnings per share in the range of $.44-$.46, given the good momentum observed in the first quarter. For the entire year, we are increasing our guidance; we believe that our sales will be in the range of $233-$239 million and our earnings per share in the range of $1.69-$1.75. In developing these estimates, we believe that our recently introduced products will again have a positive impact and that there will not be a significant change in economic conditions in North America or Europe. Our guidance also presumes that currency rates will not fluctuate significantly from where they were at September 30, 2003.
“We further strengthened our executive management team, as of October 1, 2003. The executive team now includes 3 vice presidents over each of our major geographic sales & service regions. David Bow joined Dionex as head of North American Sales and Service and Corporate Marketing. David has 17 years of experience in our industry, most recently as President of Genesis Chemicals and of Buffers & Biochemicals Corporation. Rene Trost was promoted to Vice President, European Sales and Service. Rene has run our European operations for the last 3 years and has worked for Dionex for 10 years. Bruce Barton was promoted to Vice President, Asia/Pacific Sales and Service. Bruce has worked in various sales and marketing functions at Dionex for the last 16 years, most recently being responsible for our successful China and worldwide distributor businesses.”
Dionex Corporation is a leading manufacturer and marketer of chromatography systems for chemical analysis. The Company’s systems are used in environmental analysis and by the life sciences, food and beverage, chemicals, petrochemicals, power generation and electronics industries in a variety of applications.
The company will discuss first quarter results in a conference call on Monday, October 20, 2003, at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time (PT). To listen to the call live, please tune into the webcast via www.Dionex.com. A playback of the conference call will be available from 8:00 a.m. PT, Tuesday, October 21, 2003 until 5:00 p.m. PT Monday, November 3, 2003.
Certain statements regarding sales and earnings contained herein that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements. Factors that may affect sales and earnings causing actual results to differ from these statements are foreign currency fluctuations, competition from other products, economic conditions in the areas in which the company sells its products, and existing product obsolescence. These factors and other risks and uncertainties are discussed in greater detail in the Company’s Reports on Form 10-K and 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
—TABLES FOLLOW—
DIONEX CORPORATION
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME
(In thousands, except per share amounts)
(Unaudited)
Three Months Ended | ||||||||||
September 30, | ||||||||||
2003 | 2002 | |||||||||
Net sales | $ | 53,276 | $ | 47,272 | ||||||
Cost of sales | 18,008 | 16,951 | ||||||||
Gross profit | 35,268 | 30,321 | ||||||||
Operating expenses: | ||||||||||
Selling, general and administrative | 19,168 | 17,117 | ||||||||
Research and product development | 4,571 | 3,906 | ||||||||
Total operating expenses | 23,739 | 21,023 | ||||||||
Operating income | 11,529 | 9,298 | ||||||||
Interest income, net | 49 | 17 | ||||||||
Other income (expense) | (332 | ) | 32 | |||||||
Income before taxes on income | 11,246 | 9,347 | ||||||||
Taxes on income | 3,655 | 3,038 | ||||||||
Net income | $ | 7,591 | $ | 6,309 | ||||||
Basic earnings per share | $ | 0.36 | $ | 0.30 | ||||||
Diluted earnings per share | $ | 0.35 | $ | 0.29 | ||||||
Shares used in computing per share amounts: | ||||||||||
Basic | 20,981 | 21,122 | ||||||||
Diluted | 21,786 | 21,545 | ||||||||
DIONEX CORPORATION
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
AT SEPTEMBER 30, 2003 AND JUNE 30, 2003
(In thousands)
September 30, | June 30, | |||||||||||
2003 | 2003 | |||||||||||
(Unaudited) | ||||||||||||
ASSETS | ||||||||||||
Current assets: | ||||||||||||
Cash and equivalents | $ | 54,113 | $ | 46,831 | ||||||||
Marketable equity securities | 1,535 | 1,402 | ||||||||||
Accounts receivable, net | 41,537 | 46,613 | ||||||||||
Inventories | 24,924 | 25,462 | ||||||||||
Other current assets | 13,669 | 12,737 | ||||||||||
Total current assets | 135,778 | 133,045 | ||||||||||
Property, plant and equipment, net | 45,914 | 45,436 | ||||||||||
Goodwill and other intangible assets | 28,602 | 28,856 | ||||||||||
Other assets | 5,491 | 5,763 | ||||||||||
$ | 215,785 | $ | 213,100 | |||||||||
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY | ||||||||||||
Current liabilities: | ||||||||||||
Notes payable | $ | 1,839 | $ | 1,334 | ||||||||
Accounts payable | 5,958 | 5,443 | ||||||||||
Accrued liabilities | 26,089 | 29,045 | ||||||||||
Income taxes payable | 4,264 | 6,189 | ||||||||||
Accrued product warranty | 3,242 | 3,188 | ||||||||||
Total current liabilities | 41,392 | 45,199 | ||||||||||
Deferred income taxes and other | 8,205 | 8,121 | ||||||||||
Long term debt | 404 | 500 | ||||||||||
Stockholders’ equity | 165,784 | 159,280 | ||||||||||
$ | 215,785 | $ | 213,100 | |||||||||
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