Lincare Holdings Inc. Announces Fourth Quarter and Year Ended 2007 Financi...( CLEARWATER Fla. Feb. 11 /- Lincar...),Health

CLEARWATER, Fla., Feb. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Lincare Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: LNCR), a leading provider of oxygen and other respiratory therapy services delivered to patients in the home, today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2007.

For the quarter ended December 31, 2007, revenues were $412.3 million, a 12.0% increase over revenues of $368.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2006. The Company estimates that the increase in net revenues was comprised of approximately 12.5% internal growth and 2.1% acquisition growth, partially offset by Medicare price changes taking effect in 2007. Net income for the quarter ended December 31, 2007, was $57.6 million compared to net income of $57.0 million for the fourth quarter of 2006. Diluted earnings per share were $0.70 for the quarter ended December 31, 2007, compared with $0.59 diluted earnings per share for the comparable prior year period.

Revenues for the year ended December 31, 2007, were $1.60 billion, a 13.2% increase over revenues of $1.41 billion for the comparable period in 2006. The Company estimates that the increase in net revenues was comprised of approximately 11.3% internal growth and 3.5% acquisition growth, partially offset by Medicare price changes taking effect in 2007. Net income for the year ended December 31, 2007, was $226.1 million compared to net income of $213.0 million for the prior year. Diluted earnings per share were $2.58 for the year ended December 31, 2007, compared with $2.16 diluted earnings per share for the comparable period last year.

Lincare added ten new operating centers in the fourth quarter, with nine of those locations derived from internal expansion and one location derived from acqu
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