Agilent Technologies has felt the ‘full brunt’ of the crunch

Agilent Technologies has felt the "full brunt" of the credit crunch, according to its president and chief executive officer.

Bill Sullivan’s comments follow the company’s latest financial results, which found generally accepted accounting principle net income had fallen 47 per cent on the previous year’s figures to $64 million (45.1 million pounds).

The firm’s statistics also revealed its revenue was down 16 per cent on last year, to $1.17 billion.

Mr Sullivan said: "In the first quarter, Agilent felt the full brunt of the severe, worldwide economic downturn.

"Revenues were well below our earlier expectations, and down 16 per cent from one year ago."

He went on to note the company had moved quickly to reduce the impact of the current economic climate.

Earlier this month, Agilent revealed its Direct Drive Robot has been honoured at the Association for Laboratory Automation’s LabAutomation2009.

Those applying for science sales jobs may like to note the product was included in the organisation’s three outstanding new products.