CINCINNATI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Meridian Bioscience, Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio (NASDAQ: VIVO) today announced that based on preliminary results, it expects revenues for the first quarter of fiscal 2009, ended on December 31, 2008, to be approximately $34,300,000, an increase of 1% over the prior year. During the quarter, sales to our largest distributor were essentially flat. However, shipments to customers from this distributor continued at a double-digit pace. Revenues from the European Diagnostics segment grew 1% on a local currency basis but were adversely impacted by lower H.pylori sales in Italy and reflect a 7% decline on a US dollar basis due to the effects of the strengthening dollar. Life Science comparable revenues declined 7% due in part to a large order in the first quarter of 2008 that did not repeat this year.
