By GREGORY ZELLER //
New revenues from a string of international acquisitions have helped Henry Schein Inc. do it again.
Reporting Tuesday on the fourth quarter of its fiscal 2016, which ended Dec. 31, the Melville-based global healthcare products and services distributor once again noted record-setting gains in quarterly earnings – reported at $151.28 million (or $1.88 per share), up from $139.26 million ($1.67 per share) in 4Q FY2015.
Long Island’s largest publicly traded company also reported healthier quarterly revenues, up 9.5 percent year-over-year, to $3.12 billion.
Each of the company’s key divisions – Dental, Animal Health, Medical and Technology/Value-Added Services – noted sharp fourth-quarter revenue spikes, led by Henry Schein’s Dental segment, which reported a 7.7 percent year-over-year increase, to $1.54 billion.
Also ticking up were Animal Health revenues, rising 10.8 percent to $837.8 million; Medical segment revenues, up 10.6 percent to $621 million; and Technology/Value-Added revenues, rising an impressive 19.6 percent to $112.2 million.
Although those quarterly sales numbers ultimately pointed up, they were buffeted by dueling factors, according to Henry Schein CEO Stanley Bergman, who noted the dampening effects of fluctuating international currency-exchange rates – a longtime thorn for the multinational conglomerate – and the positive impact of a calendar quirk that added an extra sales week to the fourth quarter.
The strong numbers marked the latest stellar quarterly earnings report for Henry Schein, which has run off a long string of impressive fiscal performances – resulting in net sales for FY2016 of $11.6 billion, a roughly 9 percent improvement over net sales reported for FY2015.
While telling investors that he and other company principals were “pleased to report record financial results for the fourth quarter and full year,” Bergman highlighted his company’s multi-year merger mania – which continued Monday with the announcement that Henry Schein had entered into an agreement to acquire Southern Anesthesia + Surgical, a South Carolina-based distributor of anesthesia and surgical supplies to oral surgeons, dental anesthesiologists and periodontists.
Previous high-profile acquisitions on Henry Schein’s buying spree include the Melville firm’s September 2016 announcement that it was acquiring 80 percent of Polish dental supplier Marrodent and its March 2016 merger with Japanese dental-product supplier J. Morita Corp.
“We announced seven strategic acquisitions in 2016 with a total investment of approximately $229 million, as we continued to expand our geographic presence and enhance our product offerings,” Bergman said Tuesday. “The markets we serve are experiencing consistent growth, and we remain focused on gaining share across all our business units while executing against our financial objectives.”
