Uh-oh, it's warning season. This is vague, but sounds a it dire:
>>FOSTER CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 18, 2003--Applied Biosystems Group (NYSE:ABI - News), an Applera Corporation business, today announced that it has observed a deterioration of business conditions beyond its previous expectations. The primary reasons cited for the perceived deterioration are, first, greater than previously anticipated delays in the release of government funding for life science research in the United States, Japan and Europe; and, second, global political and economic uncertainties arising from the situation in the Middle East. As a result, the Company now expects lower than previously anticipated revenues and earnings in its third quarter of fiscal 2003 (ending March 31, 2003), and possibly in the fiscal fourth quarter. Approximately one half of the Group's revenues are earned from research funded by governments or private non-profit research organizations. Additionally, approximately half of the Group's revenues are earned outside the U.S.
"Fiscal and economic problems faced by governments in all three of our major geographic markets as well as the uncertainty generated by the Iraqi situation are negatively impacting our business even more than we anticipated in January when we provided our last quarterly guidance," said Michael W. Hunkapiller, Ph.D., President of Applied Biosystems. "It is unclear when labs operated by the National Institutes of Health and academic labs that depend on NIH grants may receive funds appropriated in February for the current fiscal year to purchase capital equipment and certain reagent products. In addition, some customers from other U.S. government agencies have told us they have been instructed to defer scheduled expenditures. In Japan, certain orders we expected would flow from the supplemental spending bill approved by the Japanese Diet at the end of January have not yet materialized. Instead, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the supplemental funding, which normally covers the fiscal year ending on March 31, won't be released before the next fiscal year. In Europe, particularly in Germany and France, governments at the limit of the deficit spending ceilings permitted by the euro currency accord have little flexibility to increase expenditures as long as economic conditions remain weak and the global political situation continues to be tense. These several factors not only create the deterioration discussed above, they make near-term forecasting extremely uncertain. As a result, it would be neither constructive nor possible to accurately update our financial outlook at this time."
The comments in this press release reflect management's current views, which the Company does not have any current intention to update. The Company plans to next visit its financial outlook when fiscal third quarter results are issued next month. <<
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