Icon reports 52% income rise for Q2

Dublin-based clinical research group Icon has reported a 51.9 per cent rise in operating income to $24.4 million for the second quarter this year.

In the three months to the end of June net revenues increased 48.5 per cent to $218.3 million the company said in a statement today.

Diluted earnings per share were 62 US cents, up from 45 cents per share over the same period last year.
Icon CEO Peter Gray said revenue growth had been strong over the quarter.

“It was another quarter of excellent bookings, which were $393 million gross and $337 million net.”

“As a result of these strong business wins, we continue to expand our global capability through opening new offices and hiring new staff and we now have in excess of 6500 staff working in 71 offices in 38 countries,” he said.

“The strength of demand for our global services has led us to increase our revenue guidance for 2008 to $870 - $890 million, and our EPS guidance to $2.46 - $2.52”, he said.

The company said income from operations rose from $16.1 million to $24.4 million in the quarter, lifting the operating margin to 11.2 per cent from 10.9 per cent.

At the end of June the company had net cash of $6.9 million, compared with net debt of $20.2 million at the end of the first quarter.