NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) - BioMérieux reported today its fourth quarter revenues rose 4 percent year over year, with sales of BioFire FilmArray products accounting for more than half of the growth in the quarter.
For the three months ended Dec. 31, BioMérieux reported revenues of €613.8 million ($752.8 million), up from €591.5 million in the prior-year period. Clinical applications revenues rose 5 percent on a reported basis to €498.6 million from €474.2 million in Q4 2016. Within the clinical applications segment, molecular biology revenues increased 32 percent to €131.9 million from €99.8 million in the prior-year period. FilmArray contributed €111 million in the period.
In Q4, immunoassays contributed €118.8 million in revenues, down 4 percent from €124.2 million in Q4 2016. Revenues from the firm's Vidas immunoassays were up more than approximately 1 percent on a like-for-like basis from the prior-year period. Microbiology, the largest subsegment within clinical applications, fell less than 1 percent to €246.1 million from €248.0 million in Q4 2016.
Industrial applications revenues in Q4 grew 4 percent to €109.3 million from €104.7 million in Q4 2016, driven in part by rapid growth in product lines for customers in the pharmaceutical sector, particularly culture media, blood culture and cytometry solutions, the firm said.
For the full-year 2017, the firm reported that total revenues rose to €2.29 billion from €2.10 billion in 2016, reflecting organic sales growth of around 10 percent. Reported sales were impacted by a negative currency effect of around €30.0 million.
For the year, the firm's FilmArray sales contributed €368.0 million in revenues, and the Americas region contributed revenues of €1.0 billion, up 15 percent from €877.2 million in 2016.
Revenues from clinical applications, which include microbiology, immunoassay, molecular biology, and "other" subsegments, were €1.85 billion, up 10 percent from €1.68 billion in 2016. Microbiology revenues rose 6 percent to €946.4 million from €897.3 million in 2016.
Immunoassay revenues were €457.2 million, up 1 percent, from €451.7 million in 2016. The firm's Vidas immunoassay sales rose around 3 percent on a like-for-like basis over 2016.
Molecular biology revenues rose 36 percent to €440.4 million from €322.8 million in 2016, driven primarily by 50 percent growth in FilmArray revenues.
Revenues from industrial applications, which include BioFire Defense, Applied Maths, and R&D-related revenues, were €411.8 million, up 8 percent from €379.9 million in the prior year. BioFire Defense revenues were €19.7 million, down 44 percent from €35.2 million in 2016. Applied Maths revenues were €3.4 million, and R&D-related revenues were €3.1 million, down from €3.8 million and €6.4 million respectively in the prior year.
BioMérieux said that its installed base was around 92,800 instruments at the end of 2017, up from 86,900 instruments at the end of 2016.
In 2017, the firm invested in a series B financing round for Qvella, a Canadian molecular biology company developing electrical lysis and sample treatment technology, and it appointed Alexandre Mérieux as Chairman and CEO, replacing Jean-Luc Bélingard who will remain a board director of BioMérieux and vice president of Institut Mérieux.
The firm also noted in a statement that changes in US federal income tax rates will impact its fiscal year 2017 with a non-recurring and non-cash benefit of around €30 million.