Biosensors' profit takes a hit

MEDICAL device maker Biosensors International's net profit took a beating for both its fourth quarter and the full year, hit by lower revenue and thinner gross margins. Net profit for the three months ended March 31, 2014, was US$6.1 million, or 0.36 US cent per share, down from US$29.8 million, or 1.73 US cents per share, a year earlier.

Total revenue fell 8 per cent to US$81.6 million, partly due to a decline in revenues from interventional cardiology. The segment, Biosensor's largest product revenue contributor, recorded a 14 per cent decline in revenue to US$63 million.

Revenue from the group's other product segments - critical care and cardiac diagnostic - grew.