During the meeting, AmerisourceBergen's President and Chief Executive
Officer, R. David Yost, gave an overview of the Company's activities and
reaffirmed the Company's expectations for fiscal year 2010.
"AmerisourceBergen continues to expect diluted earnings per share from
continuing operations for fiscal year 2010 to be in a range of $1.89 to
$1.98, which represents an increase of 12 percent to 17 percent over the
$1.69 in fiscal year 2009," said Yost. "Also unchanged are our key
assumptions supporting this diluted earnings per share range, which are:
revenue growth of between 7 percent and 8 percent; operating margin
expansion in the low to mid single digit basis point range; and free
cash flow in the range of $500 million to $575 million, which includes
capital expenditures in the $140 million range. Assumptions also include
the expected repurchase of approximately $350 million of
AmerisourceBergen common shares in fiscal 2010."
Mr. Gochnauer, 60, has been a member of the Board of Directors since
September 2008. He has been President and Chief Executive Officer and a
Director of United Stationers Inc., a wholesale distributor of business
products, since 2002, and served as Chief Operating Officer from July to
December 2002. He was President and Chief Operating Officer and Vice
Chairman and President, International, of Golden State Foods Corporation
from 1994 to 2002. He currently is a Director of Golden State Foods
Corporation.
Mr. Hagenlocker, 70, has been a member of the AmerisourceBergen Board of
Directors since the Company's inception in 2001. Prior to that, he was a
director of AmeriSource Health Corporation from 1999 to 2001. He was
Vice Chairman of Ford Motor Company from 1996 until his retirement in
1999 and Chairman of Visteon Automotive Systems from 1997 to 1999. He
also served as President of Ford Automotive Operations from 1994 to 1996
and Chairman of Ford of Europe in 1996. Mr. Hagenlocker is also a
Director of Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. and Ingersoll-Rand Company
Limited.
Mr. McGee, 57, has been an AmerisourceBergen Director since 2004, and
since 1995 has been President of HBO Home Entertainment, a distributor
of videos and DVDs and a unit of Home Box Office, Inc. He has held a
variety of other positions with Home Box Office, Inc., Time Warner, Inc.
(parent of Home Box Office) and their predecessors since 1979. He is
President of the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, Inc.
The AmerisourceBergen Board of Directors is comprised of eight members,
all of whom are independent directors, except President and Chief
Executive Officer, R. David Yost.
About AmerisourceBergen
AmerisourceBergen is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical services
companies serving the United States, Canada and selected global markets.
Servicing both pharmaceutical manufacturers and healthcare providers in
the pharmaceutical supply channel, the Company provides drug
distribution and related services designed to reduce costs and improve
patient outcomes. AmerisourceBergen's service solutions range from
pharmacy automation and pharmaceutical packaging to reimbursement and
pharmaceutical consulting services. With more than $70 billion in annual
revenue, AmerisourceBergen is headquartered in Valley Forge, PA, and
employs approximately 10,000 people. AmerisourceBergen is ranked #26 on
the Fortune 500 list. For more information, go to www.amerisourcebergen.com.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Certain of the statements contained in this press release are
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the
Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934. These statements are based on management's current expectations
and are subject to uncertainty and change in circumstances. Among the
factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those
projected, anticipated or implied are the following: changes in
pharmaceutical market growth rates; the loss of one or more key customer
or supplier relationships; changes in customer mix; customer
delinquencies, defaults or insolvencies; supplier defaults or
insolvencies; changes in pharmaceutical manufacturers' pricing and
distribution policies or practices; adverse resolution of any contract
or other dispute with customers or suppliers; federal and state
government enforcement initiatives to detect and prevent suspicious
orders of controlled substances and the diversion of controlled
substances; qui tam litigation for alleged violations of laws and
regulations governing the marketing, sale and purchase of pharmaceutical
products; changes in U.S. legislation or regulatory action affecting
pharmaceutical product pricing or reimbursement policies, including
under Medicaid and Medicare; changes in regulatory or clinical medical
guidelines and/or labeling for the pharmaceutical products we
distribute, including certain anemia products; price inflation in
branded pharmaceuticals and price deflation in generics; greater or less
than anticipated benefit from launches of the generic versions of
previously patented pharmaceutical products; significant breakdown or
interruption of our information technology systems; our inability to
implement an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to handle
business and financial processes within AmerisourceBergen Drug
Corporation's operations and our corporate functions without operating
problems and/or cost overruns; success of integration, restructuring or
systems initiatives; interest rate and foreign currency exchange rate
fluctuations; economic, business, competitive and/or regulatory
developments in Canada, the United Kingdom and elsewhere outside of the
United States, including potential changes in Canadian provincial
legislation affecting pharmaceutical product pricing or service fees or
regulatory action by provincial authorities in Canada to lower
pharmaceutical product pricing or service fees; the impact of
divestitures or the acquisition of businesses that do not perform as we
expect or that are difficult for us to integrate or control; our
inability to successfully complete any other transaction that we may
wish to pursue from time to time; changes in tax legislation or adverse
resolution of challenges to our tax positions; increased costs of
maintaining, or reductions in our ability to maintain, adequate
liquidity and financing sources; volatility and deterioration of the
capital and credit markets; and other economic, business, competitive,
legal, tax, regulatory and/or operational factors affecting our business
generally. Certain additional factors that management believes could
cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from those
described in forward-looking statements are set forth (i) in Item 1A
(Risk Factors) in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for this
Fiscal Year Ended September 30, 2009 and elsewhere in that report and
(ii) in other reports filed by the Company pursuant to the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934.
SOURCE: AmerisourceBergen Corporation
AmerisourceBergen Corporation
Michael N. Kilpatric, 610-727-7118
mkilpatric@amerisourcebergen.com