Bio-Rad Reports Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year 2019 Financial Results

Fourth-quarter 2019 net sales were $624.4 million, an increase of 1.2 percent compared to $616.8 million reported for the fourth quarter of 2018. On a currency-neutral basis, quarterly sales increased 2.3 percent compared to the same period in 2018. Fourth-quarter gross margin was 52.9 percent compared to 53.9 percent during the fourth quarter in 2018. As previously disclosed, we experienced a cyberattack on our network on December 5, 2019. We immediately took affected systems offline as part of our comprehensive response to contain the activity. We have since resumed normal operations, although this occurrence did have an impact on sales and operations during December 2019.

Life Science segment net sales for the fourth quarter were $242.0 million, an increase of 1.0 percent compared to the same period in 2018. On a currency-neutral basis, Life Science segment sales increased by 1.8 percent compared to the same quarter in 2018. Currency-neutral sales growth was primarily driven by growth of Process Media, Droplet Digital PCR and Food Safety products. On a geographic view, the sales increase was due to growth in North America and Europe.

Clinical Diagnostics segment net sales for the fourth quarter were $379.0 million, an increase of 1.6 percent compared to the same period in 2018. On a currency-neutral basis, net sales were up 2.8 percent compared to the same quarter last year. Currency-neutral sales were primarily attributed to Diabetes, Quality Controls, Autoimmune, and Blood Typing products. Sales increase during the fourth quarter of 2019 was the result of growth in Asia and the Americas.

Net income for the fourth quarter of 2019 was $553.5 million, or $18.31 per share on a diluted basis, compared to a net loss of ($828.5) million, or ($27.73) per share on a diluted basis, during the same period in 2018. Net income for the fourth quarter of 2019 was significantly and favorably impacted by the recognition on the income statement of changes in the fair market value of equity securities reflecting an increase in value of $646.0 million during the fourth quarter of 2019, primarily related to our holdings of Sartorius AG.

The effective tax rate for the fourth quarter of 2019 was 20.9 percent, compared to 20.4 percent for the same period in 2018.

“Aside from the impact of the cyberattack on our network in December, sales performance for the fourth quarter reflected continued momentum of many of our key life science and diagnostic product lines,” said Norman Schwartz, Bio-Rad President and Chief Executive Officer. “Looking back at the year, we are encouraged by our overall performance, in particular, our core operating results that provide us with good momentum toward continued topline growth and reaching our long-term goals as we head into 2020.”

A reconciliation between GAAP operating results and non-GAAP operating results is provided following the financial statements that are part of this press release. Non-GAAP adjustments include amortization of purchased intangibles; acquisition-related expenses and benefits; restructuring, impairment charges and valuation changes in equity-owned investments; gains and losses on equity-method investments; significant litigation charges or benefits and legal costs; and, discrete income tax events and the income tax effect on these non-GAAP adjustments.

Non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP diluted income per share (non-GAAP EPS) are non-GAAP measures that exclude certain items detailed later in this press release under the heading “Non-GAAP Reporting.”

Non-GAAP net income for the fourth quarter of 2019 was $70.0 million, or $2.32 per share on a diluted basis, compared to $63.1 million, or $2.09 per share on a diluted basis, during the same period in 2018. The non-GAAP effective tax rate for the fourth quarter of 2019 was 17.7 percent, compared to 28.7 percent for the same period in 2018. The lower rate in 2019 was largely driven by favorable regulatory guidance relating to U.S. Tax reform issued in the fourth quarter of 2019.

The following table represents a reconciliation of Bio-Rad’s reported net income and diluted income per share to non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP diluted income per share for the three months and for the full year ended December 31, 2019 and 2018:

Full Year 2019 Results

On a reported basis, net sales for the full year of 2019 increased 1.0 percent to $2,311.7 million compared to $2,289.4 million for the full year of 2018. On a currency-neutral basis, net sales grew 3.3 percent. Full-year reported net sales for the Life Science segment were $885.9 million, an increase of 2.8 percent compared to 2018. On a currency-neutral basis sales increased 4.6 percent versus 2018. Full-year reported net sales for the Clinical Diagnostics segment were $1,412.0 million, flat compared to 2018, or an increase of 2.8 percent on a currency-neutral basis. Full-year gross margin was 54.4 percent, compared to 53.4 percent during the same period in 2018.

Net income for 2019 was $1,758.7 million, or $58.27 per share on a fully diluted basis, compared to $365.6 million, or $12.10 per share, respectively, during the same period in 2018. This significant increase was primarily due to the change in fair market value of our equity securities in 2019 primarily related to our holdings of Sartorius AG.

The effective tax rate in 2019 was 22.2 percent compared to 28.7 percent in 2018. The tax rate in 2019 and 2018 was driven by the large unrealized gain in equity securities. The rate in 2018 was also impacted by our accounting for U.S. Tax reform and non-deductible goodwill impairment.

2019 Full-Year Highlights

• Full-year sales were $2,311.7 million compared to $2,289.4 million for the full year of 2018. After normalizing for the impact of currency, full-year sales increased 3.3 percent.
• Year-to-date net income for 2019 was $1,758.7 million, or $58.27 per share on a fully diluted basis, compared to $365.6 million, or $12.10 per share, respectively, during the same period in 2018.
• In February, Bio-Rad’s QXDx AutoDG ddPCR System and QXDx BCR-ABL %IS Kit were the industry’s first digital PCR products to receive U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance. The system uses Bio-Rad’s Droplet Digital PCR (ddPCR) technology to monitor and quantitate the molecular response of chronic myeloid leukemia patients undergoing tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy.
• During the second quarter, Bio-Rad announced the launch of an innovative test to aid in the diagnosis of Lyme disease with the FDA clearance of its BioPlex 2200 Lyme Total Assay. Also during the second quarter, Bio-Rad’s IH-500 automated random access system for blood typing and screening, received FDA 510(k) clearance.
• In April, Bio-Rad named Ilan Daskal as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer and Andrew Last as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.
• In June, Bio-Rad announced the launch of its scATAC-Seq solution, a single-cell assay for transposase-accessible chromatin using sequencing, offering high capture efficiency and sensitivity for profiling of gene regulation of individual human cells.
• In August, Bio-Rad acquired Exact Diagnostics, a leading provider of a broad range of molecular diagnostics controls. With this acquisition, Bio-Rad expanded its line of quality control products in the area of transplant, respiratory, virology, microbiology, sexually transmitted infections, and vector-borne diseases.
• In November, Bio-Rad installed its QX ONE Droplet Digital PCR System at select customer labs prior to the official product launch. The system automates the company’s Droplet Digital technology into a single integrated instrument designed for drug development and manufacturing quality control as well as other highly critical testing environments.

2020 Financial Outlook

For the full year 2020, the company anticipates currency-neutral revenue growth of approximately 4.5 to 5.25 percent and improved profitability with an estimated non-GAAP operating margin of 13.8 to 14.3 percent. Management will discuss this outlook in greater detail on the fourth-quarter and full-year 2019 financial results conference call.

“Looking ahead to 2020, we expect another year of progress driven by a combination of healthy markets, new products, and a focus on operating efficiencies,” Mr. Schwartz said. “We continue to pursue our goal of 20 percent adjusted EBITDA run rate by the end of the year.”

Non-GAAP Reporting

In addition to the financial measures prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), we use certain non-GAAP financial measures, including non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP EPS, which exclude amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets, certain acquisition-related expenses and benefits, restructuring charges, asset impairment charges, valuation changes of equity owned investments, gains and losses on equity-method investments, and significant legal-related charges or benefits and associated legal costs. Non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP EPS also exclude certain other gains and losses that are either isolated or cannot be expected to occur again with any predictability, tax provisions/benefits related to the previous items, and significant discrete tax events. We exclude the above items because they are outside of our normal operations and/or, in certain cases, are difficult to forecast accurately for future periods.

We utilize a number of different financial measures, both GAAP and non-GAAP, in analyzing and assessing the overall performance of our business, in making operating decisions, forecasting and planning for future periods, and determining payments under compensation programs. We consider the use of the non-GAAP measures to be helpful in assessing the performance of the ongoing operation of our business. We believe that disclosing non-GAAP financial measures provides useful supplemental data that, while not a substitute for financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP, allows for greater transparency in the review of our financial and operational performance. We also believe that disclosing non-GAAP financial measures provides useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results and future prospects in the same manner as management and in comparing financial results across accounting periods and to those of peer companies. More specifically, management adjusts for the excluded items for the following reasons:

Amortization of purchased intangible assets: we do not acquire businesses and assets on a predictable cycle. The amount of purchase price allocated to purchased intangible assets and the term of amortization can vary significantly and are unique to each acquisition or purchase. We believe that excluding amortization of purchased intangible assets allows the users of our financial statements to better review and understand the historic and current results of our operations, and also facilitates comparisons to peer companies.

Acquisition-related expenses and benefits: we incur expenses or benefits with respect to certain items associated with our acquisitions such as transaction costs; professional fees for assistance with the transaction; valuation or integration costs; changes in the fair value of contingent consideration; gain or loss on settlement of pre-existing relationships with the acquired entity; or adjustments to purchase price. We exclude such expenses or benefits as they are related to acquisitions and have no direct correlation to the operation of our on-going business.

Restructuring, impairment charges, valuation changes in equity owned investments and gains and losses on equity-method investments: we incur restructuring and impairment charges on individual or groups of employed assets, charges and benefits arising from valuation changes in equity owned investments and gains and losses on equity-method investments, which arise from unforeseen circumstances and/or often occur outside of the ordinary course of our on-going business. Although these events are reflected in our GAAP financials, these unique transactions may limit the comparability of our on-going operations with prior and future periods.

Significant litigation charges or benefits and legal costs: we may incur charges or benefits as well as legal costs in connection with litigation and other contingencies unrelated to our core operations. We exclude these charges or benefits, when significant, as well as legal costs associated with significant legal matters, because we do not believe they are reflective of on-going business and operating results.

Income tax expense: we estimate the tax effect of the excluded items identified above to determine a non-GAAP annual effective tax rate applied to the pretax amount in order to calculate the non-GAAP provision for income taxes. We also adjust for items for which the nature and/or tax jurisdiction requires the application of a specific tax rate or treatment.

From time to time in the future, there may be other items excluded if we believe that doing so is consistent with the goal of providing useful information to investors and management.

There are limitations in using non-GAAP financial measures because the non-GAAP financial measures are not prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and may be different from non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies. The non-GAAP financial measures are limited in value because they exclude certain items that may have a material impact on our reported financial results. The presentation of this additional information is not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the directly comparable financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP in the United States. Investors should review the reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures as provided in the tables accompanying this press release.

Conference Call and Webcast

Management will discuss fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2019 results in a conference call at 2 PM Pacific Time (5 PM Eastern Time) February 13, 2020. Interested parties may access the call at 855-779-9068 within the U.S. or 631-485-4862 outside the U.S., Conference ID: 1397614. You may also listen to the conference call via a webcast that is available in the “Investor Relations” section of our website under “Quarterly Results” at www.bio-rad.com. The webcast will be available for up to a year.

BIO-RAD, DDPCR, and DROPLET DIGITAL PCR are trademarks of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. in certain jurisdictions.

About Bio-Rad

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE: BIO and BIOb) is a global leader in developing, manufacturing, and marketing a broad range of innovative products for the life science research and clinical diagnostic markets. With a focus on quality and customer service for over 65 years, our products advance the discovery process and improve healthcare. Our customers are university and research institutions, hospitals, public health and commercial laboratories, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, as well as applied laboratories that include food safety and environmental quality. Founded in 1952, Bio-Rad is based in Hercules, California, and has a global network of operations with more than 8,000 employees worldwide. Bio-Rad had revenues exceeding $2.3 billion in 2019. For more information, please visit bio-rad.com.

This release may be deemed to contain certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements we make regarding estimated future financial performance or results, the growth of our business, sales performance for the fourth quarter (aside from the impact of the cyberattack on our network in December) reflecting continued momentum of many of our key life science and diagnostic product lines, our core operating results providing us with good momentum toward continued topline growth and reaching our long-term goals as we head into 2020, for the full year 2020 anticipating currency-neutral revenue growth of approximately 4.5 to 5.0 percent and improved profitability with an estimated non-GAAP operating margin of 13.8 to 14.3 percent, expecting another year of progress driven by a combination of healthy markets, new products, and a focus on operating efficiencies, and continuing to pursue our goal of 20 percent adjusted EBITDA run rate by the end of the year. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as, “anticipate,” “estimate,” “expect,” “continue,” “believe,” “will,” “project,” “assume,” “may,” “intend,” or similar expressions or the negative of those terms or expressions, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to vary materially from those expressed in or indicated by the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include our ability to develop and market new or improved products, our ability to compete effectively, international legal and regulatory risks, risks relating to breaches of our information systems, global economic conditions, foreign currency exchange fluctuations, recent and planned changes to our global organizational structure and executive management team, product quality and liability issues, reductions in government funding or capital spending of our customers, our ability to integrate acquired companies, products or technologies into our company successfully, supply chain issues, changes in the healthcare industry, difficulties in implementing our global enterprise resource planning system, and natural disasters and other catastrophic events beyond our control. For further information regarding the Company’s risks and uncertainties, please refer to the “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in the Company’s public reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018, its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2019, and its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019 to be filed with the SEC. The Company cautions you not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which reflect an analysis only and speak only as of the date hereof. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc.
Reconciliation of GAAP financial measures to non-GAAP financial measures
(In thousands, except per share data)
(Unaudited)

In addition to the financial measures prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), we use certain non-GAAP financial measures, including non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP diluted income per share (non-GAAP EPS), which exclude amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets; certain acquisition-related expenses and benefits; restructuring charges; asset impairment charges; valuation changes of equity owned investments; gains and losses on equity-method investments; and significant legal-related charges or benefits and associated legal costs. Non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP EPS also exclude certain other gains and losses that are either isolated or cannot be expected to occur again with any predictability, tax provisions/benefits related to the previous items, and significant discrete tax events. We exclude the above items because they are outside of our normal operations and/or, in certain cases, are difficult to forecast accurately for future periods.

We utilize a number of different financial measures, both GAAP and non-GAAP, in analyzing and assessing the overall performance of our business, in making operating decisions, forecasting and planning for future periods, and determining payments under compensation programs. We consider the use of the non-GAAP measures to be helpful in assessing the performance of the ongoing operation of our business. We believe that disclosing non-GAAP financial measures provides useful supplemental data that, while not a substitute for financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP, allows for greater transparency in the review of our financial and operational performance. We also believe that disclosing non-GAAP financial measures provides useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results and future prospects in the same manner as management and in comparing financial results across accounting periods and to those of peer companies.

2020 Financial Outlook

Forecasted non-GAAP operating margin excludes 93 basis points related to amortization of purchased intangibles. Forecasted non-GAAP operating margin does not reflect future gains and charges that are inherently difficult to predict and estimate due to their unknown timing, effect and/or significance, such as foreign currency fluctuations, future gains or losses associated with certain legal matters, acquisitions and restructuring activities.

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