KEY EXECUTIVES:
Timothy M. Ring, Chairman and CEO
John H. Weiland, President and COO
Todd C. Schermerhorn, Sr. VP and CFO
Sharon M. Alterio, Group VP, International
Timothy P. Collins, Group VP, Operations
Brian P. Kelly, Group VP, Corporate Health Services
John A. DeFord, Sr. VP, Science, Technology and Clinical Affairs
NO. OF EMPLOYEES: 11,000
GLOBAL HEADQUARTERS: Murray Hill, N.J.
Executives refer to it as the “Bard way”—consistent growth through smart investments, fiscal discipline and product innovation.
That philosophy has helped C.R. Bard Inc. grow from a small importer of Gomenol (a drug used to treat tuberculosis and other respiratory tract infections) to a global leader in the urological device and surgical specialty product market. Its impact on sales and profit is virtually indisputable: For nearly four decades, the company has increased its annual dividend payout to shareholders, and over the last six years, Bard has posted adjusted earnings per share growth above its target of 14 percent.
“We have generated these results while investing heavily in research and development, sales expansion and business development, and, in turn, Bard’s future,” Chairman and CEO Timothy M. Ring and President and Chief Operating Officer John H. Weiland said in the company’s 2008 annual report. “Our consistent strategy…helped make 2008 another year of impressive performance.”
Impressive, indeed. Net sales grew 11.3 percent to $2.4 billion, and net income totaled $416.5 million, a 13 percent increase compared with the $406.4 million Bard reported in 2007. EPS was up 16 percent to $4.44 and the cash dividends paid per share climbed 7 percent to 62 cents.
Sales in three of the company’s four product groups posted significant gains last year, with the Vascular division leading the charge. This division reported $643.1 million in net sales, a 19 percent increase compared with the $539.6 million the sector posted in 2007. Overall, the division added 26 percent of total net sales to the company in 2008.
Executives attributed the notable gain to U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of three stents: the E*Luminexx vascular stent, used to treat patients with iliac artery occlusive disease; the Flair endovascular stent, used to treat stenoses in synthetic arteriovenous bypass grafts; and the LifeStent FlexStar vascular stent, a device that treats occlusive disease in the superficial femoral artery and proximal popliteal artery.
Besides its healthy stent business, Bard’s Vacora vacuum-assisted biopsy device and UltraClip breast tissue marker has enabled the company to move into a leadership position in the ultrasound segment of the $435 million global breast biopsy market. “We are listening carefully to our customers as we design and develop our next-generation biopsy devices, which we think will further raise the bar in this area,” Ring and Weiland said.
The Oncology division reported the second-highest sales increase in 2008. Revenue grew 16 percent to $646.6 million, comprising 26 percent of Bard’s total net sales. Growth in this sector was based largely on existing product sales, though the company’s new magnetic resonance imaging compatible intermediate-sized PowerPort device also added to the company’s bottom line.
Sales and profit in the Oncology division also got a boost from the March 2008 acquisition of Specialized Health Products International Inc., a Salt Lake City, Utah-based manufacturer of safety needles and safety equipment for syringes, catheters, and other disposable medical products. Executives said the $68.4 million merger gives Bard “a full range of devices for port-based therapies.”
The Urology division reported $708.5 million in net sales last year, an 8 percent jump compared with the $658.9 million the segment posted in 2007. Overall, the division added 29 percent of total net sales to Bard in 2008. Growth factors in the Urology sector included continued strong demand for the company’s StatLock catheter stabilization devices, a product line it acquired in 2006, and the third-quarter launch of the DigniCare stool management system, an indwelling lower bowel catheter designed to reduce the risk of skin breakdown, minimize exposure to bacteria and reduce the time and expense associated with fecal incontinence.
Bard’s future growth could be impacted dramatically by the development of technology that could transform the market for peripherally inserted central catheters (PICC). The company is developing electrocardiogram PICC tip confirmation technology, which would allow nurses to place the PICC at patients’ bedsides, confirm its tip location and, potentially, release the patient for therapy immediately, without the need for X-ray confirmation.
Surgical Specialties division sales remained flat last year, despite the launch of several new products. Sales totaled $368.2 million, a miniscule 1 percent increase compared with the $363.5 million hike the company posted in 2007. This division accounted for 15 percent of all net sales last year.
Some of the division’s new product launches last year include the Ventrio hernia patch, which incorporates a proprietary self-deployment ring made of polydioxanone that resorbs as the hernia repair takes hold. Bard also released an enhanced version of its Permasorb resorbable hernia fixation device, and introduced the Collamend FM implant, a biologic ventral repair product designed to promote rapid healing and tissue in-growth for complex hernia repairs.