NORCROSS, Ga., Jan. 6, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Immucor, Inc. (Nasdaq:BLUD), a global leader in providing automated instrument-reagent systems to the blood transfusion industry, today reported financial results for its fiscal 2011 second quarter ended November 30, 2010.

Highlights

• Revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2011 was $81.5 million, down approximately $1.0 million or 1% from the prior year quarter. Current quarter revenue was negatively impacted by approximately $1.0 million from fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates.
• Gross margin was 71.6% in the quarter compared with 70.4% in the prior year quarter.
• Diluted earnings per share totaled $0.30 in the quarter compared with $0.28 for the same period last year.
• Cash flow from operations for the six months ended November 30, 2010 was $47.7 million compared with $34.1 million in the prior year.
• Worldwide instrument orders for the second quarter of fiscal year 2011 were 29 Echo® orders and 26 NEO® orders. NEO is the Company's new high volume instrument that was recently launched worldwide.

"On the whole, our second quarter performance was in line with our expectations," stated Dr. Gioacchino De Chirico, Immucor's President and Chief Executive Officer. "We continue to see weakness in the U.S. market due to the macroeconomic environment, which is impacting both our reagent revenue and instrument orders."

Consolidated revenue was $81.5 million in the current year quarter, a decrease of approximately $1.0 million or 1% compared with the second quarter of fiscal 2010. Revenue in the quarter was negatively impacted by approximately $1.0 million from fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates as compared with the prior year quarter.

Reagent revenue in the current year quarter was negatively impacted by lower sales volume due to weaker industry demand in the U.S. Capture reagent revenue was also negatively impacted in the current year quarter by approximately $2.1 million related to fewer ship cycles and the year-over-year negative impact of the accounting for reagent rentals of instruments.

Consolidated gross margin was $58.4 million, or 71.6% of revenue, in the current year quarter compared with $58.1 million, or 70.4% of revenue, in the prior year quarter. The prior year quarter gross margin included the impact of approximately $1.8 million of costs related to the first phase of the Company's Quality Process Improvement Project, which was completed in the third quarter of fiscal 2010. Gross margin in the current year quarter was negatively impacted by unfavorable manufacturing variances and the negative impact of foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations.

Operating Expenses

Operating expenses in the second quarter of fiscal 2011 decreased by approximately $1.0 million, or 4%, from the prior year quarter. The decrease was primarily attributable to lower general and administrative expenses, lower selling and marketing expenses and the impact of foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations.

Summary of Instrument Orders

For the second quarter of fiscal 2011, the Company generated, on a worldwide basis, 29 Echo orders and 26 NEO orders. Year-to-date, the Company has generated 55 Echo orders worldwide and 44 NEO orders worldwide.

"Our instrument orders generated in the second quarter were in line with our expectations. We continue to expect the rate of Echo orders to accelerate in the second half of fiscal 2011. Our fiscal 2011 Echo order expectations continue to be between 140 orders and 180 orders worldwide," stated Dr. De Chirico.

"We have now received regulatory approval in all our direct markets for our new NEO instrument and we are pleased with the market reception we've received to date. We continue to expect to generate between 80 orders and 120 orders for NEO worldwide during fiscal 2011."

As of November 30, 2010, the Company had an instrument backlog of 106 Echos and 51 Galileos and NEOs. This backlog represents orders where either the instruments have not been installed or the customer validation process has not been completed so the instruments were not generating recurring revenue at the expected annualized run rate at the end of the fiscal second quarter.

Fiscal 2011 Financial Guidance

The Company continues to expect fiscal 2011 consolidated revenue in the range of $320 million to $332 million, consolidated gross margins in the range of 69.5% to 71.0%, and diluted earnings per share in the range of $1.08 to $1.18.

 "Our outlook for the U.S. market remains unchanged with expected industry weakness throughout fiscal 2011," stated Dr. De Chirico. "We are focused on delivering growth through our automation strategy. We are confident that delivering innovative instrumentation that improves blood bank productivity and operations will benefit our customers and our shareholders."

Conference Call

Immucor, Inc. will host a conference call Friday, January 7, 2011 at 8:30 AM (Eastern Time) to review these results. To participate in the telephone conference call, dial 1-888-324-9321 (Passcode: BLUD). The Company will also provide a live audio broadcast of the call via webcast. The webcast can be accessed at www.immucor.com in the "Investor Relations" section. For those unable to listen to the live broadcast of the call, a replay will be available shortly after completion of the call and will be archived on Immucor's website for approximately 60 days. Additionally, a replay of the call will be available for one week beginning at noon on January 7th by dialing 1-866-469-5762 (Passcode: 4756).

About Immucor

Founded in 1982, Immucor manufactures and sells a complete line of reagents and systems used by hospitals, reference laboratories and donor centers to detect and identify certain properties of the cell and serum components of blood prior to transfusion. Immucor markets a complete family of automated instrumentation for all of its market segments. For more information on Immucor, please visit our website at www.immucor.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains statements that are "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined under federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release include the intent, belief or current expectations of the Company and members of its management team with respect to the Company's future business operations as well as the assumptions upon which such statements are based. Forward-looking statements include specifically, but are not limited to: fiscal 2011 revenue projections, gross margin projections and fully diluted earnings per share projections as well as instrument order projections. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and involve risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. In addition, results for one fiscal quarter are not necessarily indicative of results for any future period. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statement include, but are not limited to: lower industry blood demand and the subsequent impact on the business; lower than expected demand for the Company's instruments, including the new NEO; the decision of customers to defer capital spending; the outcome of the administrative action ("notice of intent to revoke our biological license") received from the Food and Drug Administration ("FDA"); customer reaction to the FDA action and the subsequent impact on the business; the strengthening of the U.S. Dollar versus any of the functional currencies in which the Company operates and its adverse impact on reported results; the unexpected change in the mix of instruments being purchased instead of acquired through other means, which could significantly change costs recognized in the period; the failure of customers to efficiently integrate the Company's instruments into their blood banking operations; increased competition in the sale of instruments and reagents, particularly in the United States; unanticipated operational problems that result in non-compliance with FDA regulations; the failure to effectively integrate BioArray operations into the Company's overall operations; product development obstacles including obstacles related to the development of the next generation automated instrument for the molecular immunohematology products; regulatory obstacles including obstacles in securing regulatory approval of molecular immunohematology products; the inability to hire and retain, and the unexpected loss of, key managers; changes in interest rates; the inability of the Company's Japanese subsidiary as well as our molecular immunohematology operations to attain expected revenue, gross margin and net income levels; the outcome of any legal claims or regulatory investigations known or unknown, including the ongoing investigation by the Federal Trade Commission; customer and shareholder class action lawsuits; the Company's inability to protect its intellectual property, particularly as to the molecular immunohematology products, or its infringement of the intellectual property of others; lower than expected market acceptance of the molecular immunohematology products; the unexpected application of different accounting rules; general economic conditions; and adverse developments with respect to the operation or performance of the Company, its products and its affiliates or the market price of its common stock. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated within this Press Release can be found in the Company's Risk Factor disclosures in its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended November 30, 2010 and its Form 10-K for the year ended May 31, 2010. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Immucor assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

CONTACT: Michele Howard
         770-441-2051