Henry Schein, a major provider of supplies for medical, dental and veterinary offices, reported a slight uptick in earnings as growth in its medical business outpaced its dental stronghold in the first quarter.
Sales of medical supplies were $443.5 million in the three months ended March 28, up 11.6% from $397.4 million during the same period in 2014. Schein has grown its physicians office sales by working with large group practices and integrated delivery networks, as well as its partnership handling Cardinal Health's physician office-focused business.
"Our collaboration with Cardinal Health is proceeding well, and we expect to have the integration substantially completed during the second quarter,” Stanley Bergman, Schein chairman and CEO, said in a news release.
Dental sales continue to be the biggest source of revenue for the the Melville, N.Y.-based company, but sales dropped 3.6% this quarter, as an unfavorable foreign exchange rate for international sales offset 3.3% U.S. sales growth.
The company reported net income of $103.4 million, up 1.3% from the first quarter of 2014, as Schein takes on $6.9 million in expenses related to a cost-cutting and efficiency initiative. Net sales were $2.5 million, up 1.4%.
Practice management software and financial services are another growing business for Henry Schein. The company's technology and value-added services segment grew 5.7% in the first quarter, with $70.7 million in sales. This growth, too, was slightly offset by unfavorable foreign currency exchange rates.
The company announced Monday that it had repurchased approximately 542,000 shares of its common stock during the first quarter at an average price of $139.67 per share, or approximately $75.7 million. The impact of this repurchase on first-quarter earnings was immaterial, the company said.
Schein had about $224 million authorized for future repurchases of common stock, as of the end of the first quarter.