Quality of Life shown in robust Q1 for Thermo Fisher

22-Apr-2014 - Last updated on 11-Dec-2023 at 12:18 GMT

Q1 revenues for Thermo Fisher’s Life Sciences Solutions business shot up 384% year-over-year in a quarter that saw the integration of Life Technologies.

The top-line results across all business segments stood at $3.9bn (€2.8bn) for the quarter, up 22% on the same period 2013, and was due in part to the “better than expected Life contribution,” according to ISI analyst Ross Muken.

This was reflected in the firm’s Life Sciences Solutions sector (which includes most of the Life businesses and the remaining Thermo Fisher Biosciences businesses) which reported sales for the quarter of $835m compared to $173m last year, and an operating income of $245m – up 500%.

CEO Marc Casper, during a conference call this morning, told investors Thermo Fisher was able to “hit the ground running” in integrating Life following the closure of the deal at the beginning of February.

He added both he and the management team had spent some of the quarter actively touring the new facilities, visiting new colleagues and meeting Life customers before being asked how the combination of the two firms would drive revenue synergies.

“There won’t be a big impact in 2014 but it will really ramp up in 2015,” Caper said, adding that there will be a “great combination having single-use technology from the Thermo Fisher brand combined with the Life Technologies media sera and downstream analytics tech.

“This should be quite powerful and over time give us a large share of the market,” he said, with “lots of opportunities to capture revenue synergies,” remaining confident the previously outlined $85m target would be accomplished.

Figures were also bolstered by a $1bn payment the firm received from GE Healthcare for its divested gene modulation and magnetic beads Hyclone units.

Complementary Technologies

The product combinations from Thermo Fisher and Life are already apparent, according to Casper, and the company has launched a selection of complementary technologies in the upstream and downstream bioprocessing areas within the quarter.

This included new Thermo Scientific bioreactor controller platforms for its single-use systems, developed in partnership with Applikon and Finesse, as well as a new 10L centrifuge system for use in batch bioprocessing, both of which were displayed with Life Tech cell culture and purification platforms at recent industry shows.

Casper added that the combined scale would be a key advantage in providing biomanufacturing customers with solutions to achieve their goals, especially in Asia-Pacific and emerging markets.