Excluding the unfavorable impact from foreign currency exchange rates, net sales for the first quarter 2009 would have increased by 16%. Reported operating income for the quarter increased 12% to $37 million from $33 million in the same quarter of 2008.
On an adjusted basis, first quarter operating income increased 1% to $59.1 million in 2009 from $58.7 million in 2008, and first quarter 2009 adjusted net income increased 9% to $40.3 million from $36.9 million in 2008. Adjusted diluted earnings per share increased to $0.20 in the first quarter 2009 from $0.18 in 2008.
QIAGEN’s first quarter 2009 results include the results of operations from the Company’s recent acquisitions, the most significant of which was Corbett Life Science, acquired in July 2008. Reconciliations of reported results determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) to adjusted results are included in the tables accompanying this release.
QIAGEN experienced a successful start into 2009, said Peer Schatz, QIAGEN’s chief executive officer. We saw strong revenue and adjusted net income growth and exciting momentum in our strategic position. We launched 20 new products in the area of Sample & Assay Technologies and recorded once again a record 5% of sales from products launched within the last 12 months. We are also managing an exceptionally strong pipeline of new products and are preparing for the launches of many strategically very important products during 2009. We feel very well prepared to take advantage of the growth opportunities we are seeing in our target markets today and are fully on track to achieve annual targets.
We experienced strong revenue growth for QIAGEN in the first quarter of 2009 and maintain a positive outlook. Growth was highest in sales to customers in Molecular Diagnostics (approximately 46% of total revenues) followed by sales to customers in Applied Testing (7% of total revenues), Academia (27% of total revenues) and Pharma (20% of total revenues).
Growth of our sales to customers in Molecular Diagnostics was fueled by strong growth in sales of our screening products (primarily HPV), genetics (including our K-ras testing solutions) and infectious disease tests. In HPV screening, we experienced strong growth which was due to factors including successes of our ongoing market penetration initiatives. We are very pleased with these efforts in the United States and have now also created and intensified such programs in Europe and Asia. Our sales into customers in the Pharmaceutical and Biotech industry conducting clinical development continued strong, and sales to customers in these industries conducting discovery (under 10% of our sales) were, as expected, soft. We are very encouraged by the potential growth in the academic research markets following both the short term stimulus programs (primarily in the United States but also in many other countries) as well as the long-term funding increase commitments to several key and very large academic research institutions in the United States. QIAGEN is well prepared and uniquely positioned to support our customers and to jointly benefit from both the shorter-term stimulus programs and also from the planned long-term funding increases.
We are also pleased with the progress in our development pipeline. We are preparing for the launches of various modules of our QIAensemble Evolution package, which will soon fully automate our gold standard HPV screening solutions. The developments of additional QIAsymphony medium throughput modules and its broad menu of applications and tests as well as the QIAensemble high throughput screening platform are also progressing well – we expect a strong year in terms of new launches of Sample and Assay Technology products. We are also moving several products through clinical development in the US, Europe and Asia towards regulatory approvals.
We are very pleased with our financial performance in this first quarter of 2009. Reported revenues were in line with, and adjusted earnings per share came in at the high end of our expectations, said Roland Sackers, QIAGEN’s Chief Financial Officer. Revenue growth for the first quarter was 7%. Using constant exchange rates for both quarters revenue growth would have been 16% and was fueled by a strong organic growth of 11% and a positive contribution of 5% from acquisitions. Our consumable portfolio contributed 2% growth (10% at constant exchange rates). In the wake of new product introductions in QIAGEN’s instrumentation business (such as the QIAsymphony, the QIAgility and the Rotor-Gene Q) this product area recorded a growth rate of 68% (93% at constant exchange rates). Net sales in the Americas for the first quarter 2009 represented approximately 51% of our overall business and recorded a growth rate of 12% at constant exchange rates while European sales, which represent approximately 34% of our revenues, showed a growth rate of 13% at constant exchange rates. Net sales in Asia remained strong, showing a growth rate of 23% at constant exchange rates.
