Company Affirms Diluted EPS Guidance for Fiscal 2007 and Expects
December Quarter Diluted EPS Above Thomson First Call Mean of $0.54
VALLEY FORGE, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 8,
2007--AmerisourceBergen Corporation (NYSE:ABC), whose Chief Executive
Officer and Chief Financial Officer are speaking at the JP Morgan
Healthcare Conference tomorrow, today announced that it is raising its
operating revenue growth expectations for the December quarter and
fiscal year 2007 as well as reaffirming its previous diluted earnings
per share guidance for fiscal year 2007. Although the Company does not
provide quarterly guidance on diluted earnings per share, it currently
expects diluted earnings per share for the December quarter of fiscal
year 2007 to be higher than the $0.54 mean currently reported by
Thomson First Call.
The Company expects the December quarter operating revenue growth
to be approximately 16 percent, due to increased sales in both its
Specialty Group's distribution businesses and its Drug Corporation
business. For fiscal year 2007, AmerisourceBergen is raising its
operating revenue growth expectations to a range of 9 percent to 11
percent from the previous range of 7 percent to 9 percent.
AmerisourceBergen continues to anticipate diluted earnings per
share for fiscal year 2007 to be between $2.40 and $2.55. The
PharMerica Long Term Care business, which the Company currently
expects to spin off in the March quarter of 2007, represents $0.09 to
$0.11 of the Company's earnings expectations for all of fiscal year
2007.
Also unchanged are the following key assumptions supporting the
Company's diluted earnings per share expectations for fiscal 2007:
operating margin expansion in the Pharmaceutical Distribution segment
and free cash flow in the range of $425 million to $500 million, which
includes capital expenditures in the $100 million to $125 million
range. The Company also anticipates spending $450 million to $500
million to repurchase its common shares during fiscal year 2007.
Chief Executive Officer, R. David Yost, and Executive Vice
President and Chief Financial Officer, Michael D. DiCandilo, will
speak tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time at the JP Morgan
Healthcare Conference in San Francisco.
AmerisourceBergen plans to release its results for the first
quarter of fiscal year 2007 on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 prior to
the opening of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The Company
will host a conference call to discuss the results at 11:00 a.m.
Eastern Standard Time on January 24, 2007.
About AmerisourceBergen
AmerisourceBergen (NYSE:ABC) 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 pharmacy services for skilled nursing
and assisted living facilities, reimbursement and pharmaceutical
consulting services, and physician education. With more than $61
billion in annual revenue, AmerisourceBergen is headquartered in
Valley Forge, PA, and employs more than 13,000 people.
AmerisourceBergen is ranked #27 on the Fortune 500 list. For more
information, go to www.amerisourcebergen.com.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This news release may contain certain "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 changes in circumstances. Actual results may vary
materially from the expectations contained in the forward-looking
statements. The following factors, among others, could cause actual
results to differ materially from those described in any
forward-looking statements: competitive pressures; the loss of one or
more key customer or supplier relationships; customer defaults or
insolvencies; changes in customer mix; supplier defaults or
insolvencies; changes in pharmaceutical manufacturers' pricing and
distribution policies or practices; adverse resolution of any contract
or other disputes with customers (including departments and agencies
of the U.S. Government) or suppliers; regulatory changes (including
increased government regulation of the pharmaceutical supply channel);
changes in U.S. government policies (including reimbursement changes
arising from federal legislation, including the Medicare Modernization
Act and the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005); price inflation in branded
pharmaceuticals and price deflation in generics; declines in the
amounts of market share rebates offered by pharmaceutical
manufacturers to the PharMerica Long-Term Care business, declines in
the amounts of rebates that the PharMerica Long-Term Care business can
retain, and/or the inability of the business to offset the rebate
reductions that have already occurred or any rebate reductions that
may occur in the future; any disruption to or other adverse effects
upon the PharMerica Long-Term Care business caused by the announcement
of the Company's agreement to combine the PharMerica Long-Term Care
business with the institutional pharmacy business of Kindred
Healthcare, Inc. into a new public company that will be owned 50% by
the Company's shareholders (the "PharMerica LTC Transaction"); the
inability of the Company to successfully complete the PharMerica LTC
Transaction; fluctuations in market interest rates; operational or
control issues arising from the Company's outsourcing of information
technology activities; success of integration, restructuring or
systems initiatives; fluctuations in the U.S. dollar - Canadian dollar
exchange rate and other foreign exchange rates; economic, business,
competitive and/or regulatory developments in Canada, the United
Kingdom and elsewhere outside of the United States; acquisition of
businesses that do not perform as we expect or that are difficult for
us to integrate or control; changes in tax legislation or adverse
resolution of challenges to our tax positions; and other economic,
business, competitive, legal, tax, regulatory and/or operational
factors affecting the business of the Company 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 the fiscal year ended
September 30, 2006 and elsewhere in that report and (ii) in other
reports filed by the Company pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act
of 1934.
CONTACT: AmerisourceBergen Corporation
Michael N. Kilpatric, 610-727-7118
mkilpatric@amerisourcebergen.com
SOURCE: AmerisourceBergen Corporation