Exhibit 99.1
April 21, 2003 Contact: Craig McCollam
Dionex Corporation
408-481-4107
DIONEX REPORTS RECORD SALES FOR THIRD QUARTER
FOR RELEASE MONDAY, APRIL 21, 2003, 1:05 P.M. PDT
Sunnyvale, California - Dionex Corporation (NASDAQ: DNEX) today announced record
sales and strong earnings growth for its third quarter and first nine months of
fiscal 2003.
For the third quarter ended March 31, 2003, sales were $56.1 million, an
increase of 24%, compared with the $45.1 million reported for the same period
last year. Sales were positively affected by currency fluctuations, which
increased sales by 10 percentage points for the quarter. Diluted earnings per
share before the write-off of an investment in an unaffiliated entity were $.42
for the third quarter, showing an increase of 27% over the $.33 reported in the
third quarter last year, above consensus estimates. Cash flow from operations
was also strong with $9 million being generated in the quarter.
After the write-off of a non-affiliate investment of $2.1 million, diluted
earnings per share were $0.35 for the third quarter, compared to $.33 reported
in the same quarter last year.
For the first nine months of fiscal 2003, sales totaled $157.8 million, an
increase of 18%, compared with the $133.9 million reported for the first nine
months of fiscal 2002. Currency fluctuations for the first nine months increased
sales by 6 percentage points. Diluted earnings per share before the write-off of
a non-affiliate investment were $1.12 for the nine months ended March 31, 2003,
an increase of 24%, compared with the $.90 per share reported in the first nine
months of last year. Cash flow for the first nine months was very strong and
totaled approximately $28 million.
Including the write-off of a non-affiliate investment of $2.1 million, diluted
earnings per share for the nine months ended March 31, 2003 were $1.06, an
increase of 18%.
During the third quarter, the Company repurchased 234,500 shares of its common
stock, bringing the total shares repurchased to 526,400 for the first nine
months of this fiscal year.
A. Blaine Bowman, Chairman of the Board, commenting on the results, said, "We
are very pleased with the strong results reported for this quarter. We achieved
the highest quarterly sales in our history, along with very strong earnings
growth. This demonstrates strong momentum in our sales and earnings, despite a
continuing difficult economic and geopolitical environment. In addition, I am
excited about the number of new products we introduced at the Pittsburgh
Conference in March and the "Gold Award" that was bestowed upon our ICS-2000 as
the best new product introduction. These products reflect our continued
commitment to innovation and will help to drive our future success."
Lukas Braunschweiler, President and Chief Executive Officer of Dionex, said, "We
are very pleased with our strong performance. Driven by strong growth in sales
and gross profits, operating income grew over 30%, improving to 23.6% of sales
in the quarter. We continued to see strong sales in all of our major geographies
and in all of our product lines compared to a year ago. North America continued
its growth, reporting a high single digit increase in sales. Sales in Europe
remained strong, growing over 30% in reported dollars and in the low double
digits in local currency. Sales in Japan also grew strongly this quarter, at
over 20% compared with a year ago. We are very encouraged by the significant
growth in China, as revenues more than doubled again this quarter.
"We continued to report strong progress in our key life sciences and
environmental markets. In our other markets, we experienced solid results
overall, with each of the individual markets showing growth this quarter.
"Looking at the full fiscal year 2003, we believe that the solid performance we
have experienced will continue. Therefore, we are raising our sales estimates
for the fourth quarter to be in the range of $53 million to $55 million and we
estimate earnings per share to be in the range of $0.38 to $0.40.
"We will also make changes in our executive management team, effective May 1,
2003. Nebojsa Avdalovic will take over the Chief Science & Technology Officer
role, managing all of our corporate chemistry development functions. To run our
global business unit for IC and ASE, we have hired Kevin Chance. Kevin joins
Dionex after three years as CEO of Aptus Pharmaceuticals and after 12 years with
Moore Products as business unit leader. Lastly, at the end of the fiscal year,
Bart Evans will be stepping down as Chief Operating Officer and will assume
another role on my staff in a part-time capacity."
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 third quarter results in a conference call on Monday,
April 21, 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, April 22, 2003 until 5:00
p.m. PT, Monday, May 5, 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 risk 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.
DIONEX CORPORATION
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME
(In thousands, except per share amounts)
(Unaudited)
Three Months Ended Nine Months Ended
March 31, March 31,
------------------- ---------------------
2003 2002 2003 2002
-------- ------- --------- --------
Net sales $ 56,069 $45,060 $ 157,819 $133,855
Cost of sales 18,810 15,388 54,082 46,775
-------- ------- --------- --------
Gross profit 37,259 29,672 103,737 87,080
-------- ------- --------- --------
Operating expenses:
Selling, general and administrative 19,844 15,878 56,067 47,657
Research and product development 4,176 3,775 12,416 11,358
-------- ------- --------- --------
Total operating expenses 24,020 19,653 68,483 59,015
-------- ------- --------- --------
Operating income 13,239 10,019 35,254 28,065
Interest income, net 69 6 195 145
Write-off of a non-affiliate investment (2,067) -- (2,067) --
Other income 36 570 426 1,569
-------- ------- --------- --------
Income before taxes on income 11,277 10,595 33,808 29,779
Taxes on income 3,665 3,447 10,988 9,678
-------- ------- --------- --------
Net income $ 7,612 $ 7,148 $ 22,820 $ 20,101
======== ======= ========= ========
Basic earnings per share $ 0.36 $ 0.33 $ 1.08 $ 0.92
======== ======= ========= ========
Diluted earnings per share $ 0.35 $ 0.33 $ 1.06 $ 0.90
======== ======= ========= ========
Shares used in computing per share amounts:
Basic 21,028 21,491 21,100 21,851
======== ======= ========= ========
Diluted 21,619 21,944 21,625 22,355
======== ======= ========= ========
RECONCILIATION OF DILUTED EARNINGS
PER SHARE BEFORE WRITE-OFF
OF A NON-AFFILIATE INVESTMENT:
Net income, as reported 7,612 7,148 22,820 20,101
Write-off of non-affiliate investment 2,067 -- 2,067 --
Tax effect (672) -- (672) --
-------- ------- --------- --------
Adjusted net income 9,007 7,148 24,215 20,101
======== ======= ========= ========
Adjusted diluted earnings per share $ 0.42 $ 0.33 $ 1.12 $ 0.90
======== ======= ========= ========
Shares used to compute adjusted
diluted earnings per share 21,619 21,944 21,625 22,355
======== ======= ========= ========
DIONEX CORPORATION
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
AT MARCH 31, 2003 AND JUNE 30, 2002
(In thousands)
March 31, June 30,
2003 2002
-------- --------
(Unaudited)
ASSETS
Current assets:
Cash and equivalents $ 36,192 $ 22,169
Marketable equity securities 1,067 2,281
Accounts receivable, net 46,774 45,139
Inventories 26,099 22,410
Other current assets 13,417 10,390
-------- --------
Total current assets 123,549 102,389
Property, plant and equipment, net 45,366 44,895
Goodwill and other intangible assets 28,646 25,055
Other assets 6,750 8,379
-------- --------
$204,311 $180,718
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LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
Current liabilities:
Notes payable $ 2,204 $ 2,503
Accounts payable 6,188 5,227
Accrued liabilities 26,876 24,770
Income taxes payable 6,326 4,902
Accrued product warranty 3,114 2,912
-------- --------
Total current liabilities 44,708 40,314
Deferred income taxes and other 7,891 7,695
Long term debt 636 1,002
Stockholders' equity 151,076 131,707
-------- --------
$204,311 $180,718
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