Lincare Holdings Inc. Announces Fourth Quarter and Year Ended 2008 Financi...( CLEARWATER Fla. Feb. 9 /- Lincare...),Health

CLEARWATER, Fla., Feb. 9 /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, 2008.

For the quarter ended December 31, 2008, revenues were $415.1 million, a 1% increase over revenues of $412.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2007. The Company estimates that the increase in net revenues was comprised of approximately 7% internal growth, partially offset by Medicare price reductions of approximately 6% taking effect in 2008. Net income for the quarter ended December 31, 2008, was $58.2 million compared to net income of $57.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2007. Diluted earnings per share were $0.79 for the quarter ended December 31, 2008, compared with $0.70 diluted earnings per share for the comparable prior year period.

Revenues for the year ended December 31, 2008, were $1.665 billion, a 4% increase over revenues of $1.596 billion for the comparable period in 2007. The Company estimates that the increase in net revenues was comprised of approximately 9% internal growth, partially offset by Medicare price reductions of approximately 5% taking effect in 2008. Net income for the year ended December 31, 2008, was $237.2 million compared to net income of $226.1 million for the prior year. Diluted earnings per share were $3.17 for the year ended December 31, 2008, compared with $2.58 diluted earnings per share for the comparable period last year.

Lincare added 14 new operating centers in the fourth quarter, with 11 of those locations derived from internal expansion and three locations derived from acquisition. For the year ended December 31, 2008, Lincare added 44 new operating centers, with 41 der
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