Product category:
Clinical chemistry analysis
News Release from: Perkin Elmer LAS (UK)
Edited by the Laboratorytalk Editorial
Team on 22 November 2002
Credit downgrade anticipated
"When we made the decision not to sell our fluid sciences business, we understood the potential effect on our credit rating," says chairman and CEO
PerkinElmer commented that Moody's decision to reduce its credit rating from Baa3 with negative outlook to Ba2 with stable outlook was anticipated in the refinancing programme announced on 29 October, including the commitment of up to $445 million from Merrill Lynch "When we made the decision not to sell our fluid sciences business, we understood the potential effect on our credit rating," said Gregory Summe, chairman and CEO of PerkinElmer
This article was originally published on Laboratorytalk on 19 Apr 2002 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
Probing the source of diabetes
Newly developed gene probes increase efficiency and speed of research in studies of type 1 (juvenile) diabetes, detecting the presence of alleles by hybridisation reaction
Manage the entire gene expression process
With microarray labs generating more than one million primary data points daily, this gene expression data management software could speed up actual gene and drug discovery
"We believe retaining fluid sciences until the markets improve is the best path to improve shareholder value over the long term.
We factored the cost implications of a ratings downgrade into our financing, and this should not affect our long-term financial strategy." On 29 October, PerkinElmer reported that it had received a commitment from Merrill Lynch Capital to provide a senior secured credit facility of up to $445 million, including a revolving credit facility of $100 million.
The company intends to use these facilities to repay existing debt, thereby extending existing shorter-term debt maturities.
As part of Moody's announcement, the credit outlook for PerkinElmer was improved to stable from negative.
"Our Q3 earnings were on target, supported by substantial progress made in cash flow and debt reduction," said Summe.
"We continue to further reduce our cost structure across all of our businesses, including combining our life sciences and analytical instruments businesses into a new life and analytical sciences business unit.
Our business is trending positively, and we are building momentum.".
• Perkin Elmer LAS (UK): contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Laboratorytalk email newsletter
• Laboratorytalk Home Page
Search the Pro-Talk network of sites
