STERIS Corporation Announces Fiscal 2008 Third Quart...( MENTOR Ohio Jan. 30 /- STERIS Cor...),Health

MENTOR, Ohio, Jan. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- STERIS Corporation (NYSE: STE) today announced financial results for its fiscal 2008 third quarter ended December 31, 2007. Fiscal 2008 third quarter revenues increased 5% to $314.0 million compared with $299.0 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2007, driven by growth in all three segments.

Fiscal 2008 third quarter net income was $21.8 million, or $0.34 per diluted share, compared with net income of $21.3 million, or $0.33 per diluted share, in the third quarter of fiscal 2007. Included in net income for the third quarter of fiscal 2008 and 2007 are expenses associated with the Erie to Mexico transfer of manufacturing operations, which negatively impacted diluted earnings per share by $0.01 and $0.03, respectively. Additionally, the fiscal 2007 third quarter included a gain related to discontinued operations, which contributed $0.01 to diluted earnings per share.

"While demand remains strong across our operations with revenue growth in all three segments and record backlog levels, we are experiencing a slower than anticipated ramp up in production levels at our new Monterrey, Mexico manufacturing facility," said Walt Rosebrough, President and Chief Executive Officer of STERIS. "Because these capital products have long lead times, these delays have had minimal impact in meeting customer requirements. However, these delays did temper shipment levels and added incremental manufacturing costs beyond where we expected them to be. Currently, our production levels approximate our expected average monthly run rate, which bodes well for better throughput levels in subsequent quarters.

"As we had indicated previously, our performance expectations for the current fiscal year we
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