Neogen Corporation (Neogen) has reported total revenues of $31.1 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2009, up 15%, compared with total revenues of $27.2 million in the year-ago quarter. It also reported net income of $3.9 million, or $0.26 per diluted share, for the second quarter of fiscal 2009, compared with net income of $3.2 million, or $0.22 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter.
Year-to-date net income for the first six months of Neogen’s 2009 fiscal year increased 22% to $7,634,000 from $6,265,000 in FY 2008, or to $0.51 per share in the current year from the prior year’s $0.42. Year-to-date revenues rose 20% during the fiscal year’s first half to $59,992,000 from FY 2008’s $50,118,000.
The second quarter was the 63rd consecutive profitable quarter from operations for the company, and the 67th quarter of the past 72 quarters to show increased revenues as compared with the previous year—a span of 18 years.
“Despite the difficult economic climate, we are once again proud to report that the operational strength throughout Neogen delivered yet another strong quarterly performance,” said James Herbert, Neogen’s chief executive officer and chairman. “The second quarter was a healthy combination of growth in a number of our core products, and a great start for the product lines that we acquired within the past year. While economic difficulties are impacting every company, our strategy continues to provide opportunity for growth.”
The second quarter saw a continuation of Neogen’s tradition of successfully integrating acquisitions to provide incremental top line and, more importantly, bottom line growth. Recent acquisitions helped Neogen achieve an increase of 22% in its operating income—from $4,798,000 in FY 2008 to $5,861,000 in the current year.
“We’re very pleased with the second quarter results considering unique challenges we faced in the quarter-to-quarter comparisons to the prior year,” said Lon Bohannon, Neogen’s president and chief operating officer. “In particular, the world-wide economic turmoil resulted in some significant currency exchange adjustments that negatively impacted reported second quarter sales. Our increase in unit volume was substantially better than the reported increase in sales for our Food Safety Division.”
Neogen’s Animal Safety Division led the company’s second quarter revenue increase, with sales up 24% from $12,736,000 in FY 2008 to $15,808,000 in FY 2009. Year-to-date, the division’s revenues increased 33% from the prior year to $29,064,000. While the July 2008 acquisition of a line of agricultural and veterinary disinfectants from DuPont Animal Health Solutions contributed significantly to the year-over-year revenue gain, same-store sales also improved, and a number of core product lines experienced significant revenue increases compared to the previous year. Sales of Neogen’s veterinary biologics increased more than 60% in the quarter, as the company responded to suspected equine botulism outbreaks in at least four U.S. states. Neogen is the exclusive provider of a vaccine against the most prevalent type of equine botulism and expanded its domestic distribution of this proprietary vaccine during the second quarter.
Neogen’s Animal Safety division continued to grow sales of the Kane products acquired in August 2007. Sales of the Kane products, including veterinary obstetrical gloves, bovine hoofcare, and surgical supplies, increased approximately 20% in the FY 2008 quarter compared to the prior year. Continuing market acceptance of Neogen’s line of veterinary supplements primarily for dogs and cats led to a 26% increase in sales of the company’s Kare product line.
Neogen’s Food Safety Division second quarter revenues, which were exclusively same-store sales, increased 6% to $15,379,000 in FY 2009. Year-to-date, the Food Safety Division’s revenues were up 10% to $30,928,000 for FY 2009 from $28,232,000 in FY 2008. Excluding the impact of currency translation that significantly reduced reported second quarter dollar-denominated sales of dairy antibiotic tests and sales for the company’s Neogen Europe subsidiary, sales growth for food safety would have been over 12% for the quarter and on a year-to-date basis.
This division’s second quarter revenue increases were led by the continuing strong performance of its Lansing, Mich.-based diagnostics group, which reported sales growth of approximately 16%. Sales of Neogen rapid tests for food allergens increased more than 50% as food processors increase efforts to protect consumers from the consequences of the presence of unintended allergens in their products. An increased use of test kits to detect dairy milk allergens in soy milk contributed significantly to the overall growth in sales of food allergen test kits.
Sales of Neogen’s Soleris(TM) general microbial detection system, including single-use disposable vials used in conjunction with Neogen’s proprietary optical reader, also increased by more than 50% on a year-to-year comparison for the quarter. The Soleris system allows for the accurate detection of spoilage organisms, such as yeast and mold, in a fraction of the time of traditional microbial detection methods. Similarly, sales of the disposable samplers used with Neogen’s innovative AccuPoint(R) ATP sanitation monitoring system experienced a strong double-digit sales increase in the second quarter of FY 2009 compared to the previous year.