HERCULES, CA--(Marketwired - Feb 23, 2017) - Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE: BIO) (NYSE: BIO.B), a global provider of life science research and clinical diagnostic products, today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2016.
Fourth-quarter 2016 reported revenues were $571.5 million, an increase of 0.2 percent compared to $570.6 million reported for the fourth quarter of 2015. On a currency-neutral basis, quarterly revenues increased 0.8 percent compared to the same period in 2015. Fourth-quarter gross margin was 55.0 percent compared to 54.1 percent during the fourth quarter in 2015.
Life Science segment net sales for the fourth quarter were $206.8 million, a decrease of 5.2 percent compared to the same period in 2015. On a currency-neutral basis, Life Science segment sales decreased by 4.3 percent. As noted during our third-quarter 2016 earnings conference call, revenues were unusually low for the third quarter of 2015 due to the rollout of our ERP system in our Life Science segment. As a result, performance in the fourth quarter of 2015 was unusually strong; this atypical situation results in a difficult year-over-year comparison for the same period in 2016. Underlying this comparison was good growth of Droplet Digital™ PCR and food testing products.
