AMS reports 2006 sales increase

American Medical Systems (AMS) has announced its financial results for the final quarter and full year for 2006.

The company saw a 57 per cent increase in sales for the fourth quarter compared with the comparable time in 2005, reaching $114.8 million (59.44 million pounds). For the full financial year, AMS reported an increase in sales of 36 per cent to $357.7 m million.

Following the announcement of these results, the company increased its expected revenue for 2007 from ?490-515 million to $505-530 million, while restating its earnings per share guidance of $0.76-0.81.

ANS claims that 2007 will see the strongest product offering in the company’s history.

Marting J Emerson, president and chief executive officer of AMS, said: “The fourth quarter represented the first full quarter of the Laserscope operations and the business finished strongly with $28.5 million in fourth quarter sales.”

He added that these sales exhibited increasing demand from customers for the company’s GreenLight HPS system, with the group selling 96 HPS consoles in the fourth quarter of the year.

In November, AMS announced that it had signed a definitive agreement with Iridex to divest the aesthetics division it had acquired through the purchase of Laserscope for up to $37 million.