March 2014: ICON

ICON reports Q4 2013 revenue of $345m, up 15% year-on-year with full year revenue of $1.34bn, up 20% on the previous year.

ICON plc, a global provider of outsourced development services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries, recently reported its financial results for the full year and fourth quarter ending December 2013.

For the fourth quarter net revenue grew 15% year on year to $345m. Operating income was $38.7m compared to $24.4m in the same quarter last year. Operating margin was 11.2% of revenue, compared to 8.1% of revenue for the same quarter last year.

Net income was $33.5m compared with $20.7m last year representing growth of 62%, or $0.53 per share compared to $0.34 in the same quarter last year.

For the full year revenue grew 20% to $1.34bn. Operating income before restructuring and other items was $130.2m compared to $73.7m last year, an increase of 77%. Operating margin for the full year 2013 was 9.7% of revenue compared with 6.6% of revenue in 2012.

Speaking about the results, ICON CEO Ciaran Murray said: “ICON made significant progress in 2013. Revenue grew 20% to $1.34bn and earnings per share increased by 77% to $1.77. During the quarter we booked $446m of net new business. As a result, we enter 2014 with a backlog in excess of $3bn and consequently we are guiding revenue in the range of $1,415-1,465m an increase of 6-10% and for earnings to increase by 16-24% in the range $2.05- $2.20.”

ICON was founded in Dublin, in 1990 by Dr John Climax and Dr Ronan Lambe, and specialises in the strategic development, management and analysis of programmes that support clinical development helping to bring new treatments to market faster. Its services span the entire lifecycle of product development and can be adapted to suit small local trials or large global programmes.

ICON has more than 10,300 employees in 77 offices in 38 countries. Since its establishment in Ireland, the company has spent the last number of years acquiring global life sciences companies, most recently in 2013 when it acquired Akos, an EU provider of drug safety services.

ICON has been recognised as one of the world’s leading research organisations through a number of high-profile industry awards and continues to show a strong commitment to its people and operations in Ireland.

About the CEO

Ciaran Murray is chief executive officer of ICON. He joined ICON as chief financial officer in 2005, serving in that capacity until his appointment as CEO.

Prior to joining ICON, he held a number of senior financial positions in global organisations including Kraft Foods, Novell Inc., Northern Foods and Codec Systems.