The top 25 analytical and life science instrument companies.
As the analytical and life science instrument industry continues to grow and change so does its top companies. IBO's list of the top 25 analytical and life science instrument companies for 2001 is a snapshot of the current state of the industry. The companies on this list both shape the industry and reflect the direction and priorities of the industry as a whole.The list features names long associated with the instrument industry, such as Agilent Technologies (formerly part of Hewlett-Packard), PerkinElmer, Thermo Electron and Waters. Each of these companies has transformed itself in recent years and all are very different companies from their pasts. Perhaps this is what accounts for their continued dominance of this list.
Both PerkinElmer and Thermo Electron have recently reorganized and shed slow growing businesses. Agilent, PerkinElmer and Thermo Electron have all made life science instruments a larger part of their businesses, as has Waters through its Micromass subsidiary. Even Applera, the number 1 company, has been readjusting its strategy lately, suggesting the rapid changing nature of the life science instrument business.
The top 25 features companies that have been in business for over 100 years to companies that have been in business for less than 25 years. Several of the relatively younger companies have established themselves through important new technologies and dominance of growing markets. These companies are Affymetrix, Applera, Qiagen and Tecan.
In other cases, a company's analytical and life science instrument business makes up only a part of a larger, more diversified company. In this category are Agilent LSCA, Danaher, Hitachi, Horiba, Roche Molecular Biochemicals, and Shimadzu. Companies in the top 25 exhibit strong ties to the clinical, diagnostics and other health care related market, such as Becton Dickinson, Beckman Coulter, Bio-Rad, Roche Molecular Biochemicals, and Tecan.
The top 25 companies took in more than $12.6 billion in revenues in 2001. This represents approximately 58% of the total analytical and life science instrument industry (see IBO 1/15/02). The top 5 companies on the list accounted for 47% of total revenues of the top 25 companies, and the top 10 companies accounted for 69% of the top 25 companies. The average growth rate for a company in the top 25 was 10%.
The large percentage of the industry's total sales that come from companies at the top is indicative of the industry's consolidation. It also reiterates the importance of distribution, R&D, brand name and a worldwide presence. The global nature of the industry is also evident by the fact that companies from six countries are in the top 25.
Despite a rocky year, Applera, consisting of Applied Biosystems and Celera's bioinformatics business, retained the top spot on the list, proving once again the strength of the life science market. Number 2 company Thermo Electron, which sells a variety of analytical and life science instruments to a wide range of end-user markets, continued its tradition as an industry heavyweight that has met the challenges of recent years, as did Agilent Technologies, the number 3 company.
Although IBO's 2001 list of the top 25 analytical and life science instrument companies does not look that different from last year's list (see IBO 4/15/01), there are some significant changes. Most notably, PerkinElmer acquired last year's twenty-first ranked company, Packard BioScience, and moved up one notch from last year to number 4. The acquisition also pushed PerkinElmer's analytical and life science instrument revenues to over $1 billion. Acquisitions also accounted for Danaher's jump up the list from number 25 last year to number 22 this year. However, the biggest change in ranking belonged to Tecan, which rose tour spots to number 19 this year on the strength of sales of its genomics and proteomics products. Bio-Rad also moved up the list, from number 14 to number 12, due to growing sales to the life science market. Interestingly, only two companies in the top 25, Danaher and Instron, do not sell analytical and life science instrument products for the life science research market. Instron is the only company in the top 25 that is not public or not part of a public company.
No other company, besides Packard BioScience, has left the list from last year. But joining the list this year at number 25 is Roche Molecular Biochemicals, formerly Roche Applied Science, which sells reagents and instruments for PCR, nucleic acid purification and protein expression. This addition again shows how much the life science instrumentation and its aftermarket continues to affect the instrument business.
In compiling the rankings, IBO only records sales of analytical and life science instruments and related after market products, such as consumables and service. When exact figures for companies are not publicly available, IBO estimates sales based on financial analyses, company information, market trends, and interviews. Acquisitions made during the year are counted as if they were part of the acquiring company for the whole calendar year.
Despite a global economic downturn and US recession, all 25 companies posted revenue growth for the year. The five fastest growing in 2001 from the year, as shown in the graph on this page, exemplify a number of trends. PerkinElmer and Danaher grew through acquisitions. Both Qiagen and Tecan increased revenues by targeting several segments of the life science market, expanding distribution, and selling basic instrumentation for life science research. Similarly, Bio-Rad offers a range of tools for life science research as well as aftermarket products. Tecan and Qiagen were also among the five fastest growing companies of 2000's top 25 list.
Unlike last year, when two of five slowest growing companies posted revenue declines, this year all five companies posted growth in the 2% to 3% range. All five companies have limited exposure to the life science market and thus were more severely affected by the downturn in industrial markets in 2001. However, each company has positioned itself for future growth in the life science market. Four of the five companies are Japanese companies, perhaps reflecting the current economic conditions of Japan and the downturn in Asian industrial markets in 2001. Mettler-Toledo was also listed last year as one of the five slowest growing companies.
Nine of the top 25 companies posted double-digit revenue growth for the year. With the exceptions of Danaher and PerkinElmer, the primary market for seven of these nine companies is life science research. In addition to the five fastest growing companies, the other companies to post annual double-digit growth were Invitrogen (15%), Affymetrix (12%), Applera (12%) and Roche Molecular Biochemicals (11%).
Although the instrument industry is sensitive to macroeconomic conditions, the global economic downturn of 2001 seem to have had little overall effect on the top 25 rankings for the year. This testifies to the relative stability of the analytical and life science instrument industry and the strength of these companies.
For any large change in rankings for 2002, it will probably take a hefty acquisition or divestiture, as was the case with PerkinElmer this year. It will be interesting to see if any company wishes to make the move.
CY 2001 Sales Rank Company ($B) 1 Applera Corp. 1.72 2 Thermo Electron 1.23 3 Agilent Technologies 1.10 4 PerkinElmer 1.02 5 Waters Corporation 0.85 6 Amersham Biosciences 0.73 7 Shimadzu Corporation 0.61 8 Hitachi 0.54 9 Varian 0.48 10 JEOL 0.45 11 Becton Dickinson 0.42 12 Bio-Rad Laboratoires 0.39 13 Beckman Coulter 0.38 14 Mettler-Toledo 0.37 15 Bruker 0.35 16 Qiagen 0.25 17 Affymetrix 0.22 18 Invitrogen 0.21 19 Tecan 0.21 20 Horiba 0.19 21 Dionex 0.18 22 Danaher 0.18 23 Instron (Kirkland Capital Partners) 0.17 24 Sartorious 0.17 25 Roche Molecular Biochemicals 0.15 The 5 Fastest and Slowest Growing Companies from 2000-2001 of the Top 25 PerkinElmer 31% Qiagen 28% Tecan 28% Bio-Rad Laboratoires 17% Danaher 16% Mettler-Toledo 3% Hitachi 3% Horiba 3% Shimadzu Corporation 3% JEOL 2% Note: Table made from bar graph. Top 25 Revenue Share by Ranking Cos. #21-25 7% Cos. #16-20 9% Cos. #11-15 15% Cos. #6-10 22% Cos. #1-5 47% Note: Table made from pie chart.
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| Publication: | Instrument Business Outlook |
|---|---|
| Geographic Code: | 1USA |
| Date: | Feb 28, 2002 |
| Words: | 1333 |
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