CINCINNATI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 19, 2006--Meridian Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIVO): GENERAL HIGHLIGHTS Meridian Bioscience, Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio today: -- reported record first quarter net sales of $24,908,000, a 32% increase over the same period of the prior fiscal year; -- reported record first quarter net earnings of $3,962,000, an 88% increase over the same period of the prior fiscal year; -- reported record first quarter diluted per share earnings of $0.15, a 67% increase over the same period of the prior fiscal year, based on 26,711,000 average diluted shares outstanding which increased 15% over the same period of fiscal 2005; -- declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.115 per share, 44% higher than the regular quarterly rate of fiscal 2005; and -- reaffirmed its fiscal 2006 guidance of per share diluted earnings between $0.60 and $0.63 on net sales of between $103 million and $107 million.
