GE acquisition drives down Amersham annual profit

Amersham, the manufacturer of lab equipment and imaging agents, said its 2003 net income had fallen by 35% to £192m.

The UK company is being bought by General Electric.

Sales were up slightly at £1.65m compared with £1.61m in 2002.

Excluding special charges, Amersham ended 2003 with income of £294m, compared with £301m in 2002.

The 2003 special charges were £44m for restructuring of the Discovery Systems unit, £8m in costs related to the GE acquisition, and £6m of other expenses.

Last October, General Electric offered £5.7bn for Amersham in an all-stock deal, which is expected to be finalised in the first half of this year. Amersham will then become GE Healthcare Technologies.

Amersham has three main business areas - medical diagnostics, discovery systems and protein separations.

Nancy Weil writes for IDG News Service