Revenues at clinical research firm Icon up 37%

IRISH CLINICAL research company Icon increased revenues by 37 per cent to $865 million (€987 million) last year, leading to a 39 per cent rise in net profit to $78.1 million.

Net income per share was $1.30, compared with $0.94 per share a year earlier.

Revenues for the final quarter increased by almost 22 per cent to $220 million compared with the same period the previous year, with income from operations of $26.5 million.

Icon chairman Dr John Climax said 2008 had been another outstanding year for the company.

“With year-on-year revenue growth of 37 per cent and operating income growth of 44 per cent, 2008 represents the second consecutive year of such exceptional performance,” he said.

Chief executive Peter Gray said the firm had “entered 2009 in a good position, although the difficult economic climate has put some customers under pressure and has created a degree of uncertainty”. He said it was cautiously positive about the future.

Net of debt, Icon had a cash and near-term investment deficit of $4.27 million, compared with $23.8 million in cash a year ago.

Contributing to this net debt was the purchase of Healthcare Discoveries last February for $11.8 million and the acquisition of Prevalere Life Sciences in November for $37.6 million.

Goodbody analyst Ian Hunter said requests for proposals, seen as a preliminary step to winning contracts, “increased in the first few weeks of the year, and that would be a positive”. Mr Hunter also noted that the decision to award a contact was taking longer.