Revenues drop 37% for Trinity Biotech

TRINITY BIOTECH, the Irish manufacturer of medical diagnostic products, saw its revenues decrease 37 per cent in the final quarter of last year to $19.2 million (€13.8 million).

The Nasdaq-listed company said the decrease was mostly due to the sale of its coagulation product line earlier in the year.

The board of the company has signalled that it is to begin paying dividends. It is proposing a final dividend of 10 cent per US share in respect of 2010.

Revenues from its point-of-care products fell 4.2 per cent compared to the same period in 2009. Trinity Biotech said this decrease reflected the timing of the shipment of large orders and said a corresponding positive impact would be seen in the revenues for the first quarter of 2011.

Clinical laboratory revenues, excluding the coagulation line, arrived at $15.7 million, representing an increase of 0.2 per cent.

Gross profit for the quarter amounted to $9.8 million, representing a gross margin of 50.8 per cent, Trinity Biotech said, adding that this compared favourably to a gross margin of 44.5 per cent in the same period in 2009.

“The development of our new range of point-of-care products is proceeding well and will form the bedrock of future growth for our company,” said Trinity Biotech chief executive Ronan Ó Caoimh.

The company attributed the improvement in margins to the disposal of the coagulation business.

The sale of the coagulation line to Stago resulted in a once-off profit of over $46 million. This allowed the group to strengthen its balance sheet in 2010 and it moved from a net debt position of $25.8 million to a net cash position of $57.7 million.