Financial Report: Harvard Bioscience Posts a Loss

Citing a $2 million revenue shortfall from products provided to organizations, biotech companies and government agencies developing new drugs, Holliston, MA-based researcher Harvard Bioscience (Nasdaq: HBIO) reported a loss for the first quarter.

“We are extremely disappointed with our first quarter 2004 results,” said CEO Chane Graziano in a company statement. “Most of our product lines did well, or even exceeded our expectations for the quarter. However, our genomics, proteomics, and high-throughput screening products delivered far less operating margin than we expected.”

As a result, the net loss as measured under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) totaled $51,000 for the quarter ended March 31, compared to a net income gain of $776,000 last year. Revenue increased 14% to $22.2 million, compared with $19.5 million in revenue last year.

Harvard Bioscience sells its products to researchers though a 1,000-page catalog, a direct sales force, and specialty catalogs and through its distributors, which include Amersham Biosciences, Fisher Scientific and ColeParmer.