Demand helps Varian rake in bountiful 4Q sales and earnings

Varian Medical Systems Inc. attributed strong demand for its radiation therapy and x-ray imaging products to its FY04 record earnings, revenues and net orders.

Fourth-quarter revenues increased 14 percent to $345 million, compared with $303 million in the fourth quarter of FY03. Net earnings reached $52 million, compared with net earnings of $44 million in the year-ago quarter.

Year-end earnings tallied $1.2 billion, compared with $1.04 billion in FY03. Net earnings escalated to $167 million, compared with $130 million in the year-ago period.

"Our company had an outstanding quarter and fiscal year with growth in all of our segments," said Richard M. Levy, chairman and CEO. "We saw strong demand for new products that support more precise image-guided and stereotactic cancer treatments as well as solid revenue growth in our emerging flat-panel, brachytherapy, and security and inspection products."

Oncology Systems' fourth quarter revenues for Clinac accelerators and ancillary products as well as software and services for radiotherapy totaled $288 million, up 12 percent from the fourth quarter of FY03. Oncology Systems revenues for FY04 were $1 billion, up 20 percent from FY03.

Revenues for its x-ray products business, including tubes and amorphous silicon flat-panel digital imagers, reached $45 million for the fourth quarter, up 21 percent from the year-ago quarter. For FY04, revenues were a record $165 million, up 8 percent from FY03.

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