Henry Schein Acquires Minerva Dental Limited
Strengthens U.K. Full-Service Dental Operations
MELVILLE, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 21, 2008--Henry Schein, Inc. (Nasdaq: HSIC), the largest provider of healthcare products and services to office-based practitioners in the combined North American and European markets, today announced that it has acquired Minerva Dental Limited ("Minerva"), a supplier of dental consumables and equipment in the U.K. Minerva recorded revenue of approximately $40 million in 2007. Henry Schein expects the acquisition to be neutral to 2008 diluted EPS and slightly accretive to 2009 earnings. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
"The acquisition of Minerva strengthens Henry Schein's full-service dental business in the U.K., particularly in the South and Southwest regions," said Stanley M. Bergman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Henry Schein. "The Company has an outstanding reputation and the Minerva brand is well known throughout the U.K. As we focus on expanding our Pan-European equipment sales and service presence, the addition of Minerva, with its experienced team and solid presence in the U.K. equipment market, certainly advances this goal."
Minerva is a full-service dental distributor based in Cardiff, Wales. The Company was founded in 1919 and has operations in five locations throughout the U.K. The Company offers over 25,000 Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) from all major manufacturers and also provides design services, equipment servicing and handpiece repairs.
About Henry Schein
Henry Schein, a Fortune 500(R) company and a member of the NASDAQ 100(R) Index, is recognized for its excellent customer service and highly competitive prices. The Company's four business groups - Dental, Medical, International and Technology - serve more than 550,000 customers worldwide, including dental practitioners and laboratories, physician practices and animal health clinics, as well as government and other institutions. The Company operates through a centralized and automated distribution network, which provides customers in more than 200 countries with a comprehensive selection of more than 90,000 national and Henry Schein private-brand products in stock, as well as more than 100,000 additional products available as special-order items.
Henry Schein also offers a wide range of innovative value-added practice solutions for healthcare professionals, such as ArubA(R), the Company's electronic catalog and ordering system. Its leading practice-management software solutions have a user base of more than 52,000 practices, including DENTRIX(R), Easy Dental(R), Oasis(R) and EXACT(R) for dental practices, MicroMD(R) for physician practices, and AVImark(R) for animal health clinics.
Headquartered in Melville, N.Y., Henry Schein employs over 12,000 people and has operations or affiliates in 20 countries. The Company's net sales reached a record $5.9 billion in 2007. For more information, visit the Henry Schein Web site at www.henryschein.com.
In accordance with the "Safe Harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, we provide the following cautionary remarks regarding important factors which, among others, could cause future results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements, expectations and assumptions expressed or implied herein. All forward-looking statements made by us are subject to risks and uncertainties and are not guarantees of future performance. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance and achievements, or industry results to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These statements are identified by the use of such terms as "may," "could," "expect," "intend," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "forecast," "project," "anticipate" or other comparable terms. A full discussion of our operations and financial condition, including factors that may affect our business and future prospects, is contained in documents we have filed with the SEC and will be contained in all subsequent periodic filings we make with the SEC. These documents identify in detail important risk factors that could cause our actual performance to differ materially from current expectations.
Risk factors and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from current and historical results include, but are not limited to: competitive factors; changes in the healthcare industry; changes in regulatory requirements that affect us; risks associated with our international operations; fluctuations in quarterly earnings; our dependence on third parties for the manufacture and supply of our products; transitional challenges associated with acquisitions, including the failure to achieve anticipated synergies; financial risks associated with acquisitions; regulatory and litigation risks; the dependence on our continued product development, technical support and successful marketing in the technology segment; our dependence upon sales personnel and key customers; our dependence on our senior management; possible increases in the cost of shipping our products or other service trouble with our third-party shippers; risks from rapid technological change; risks from potential increases in variable interest rates; possible volatility of the market price of our common stock; certain provisions in our governing documents that may discourage third-party acquisitions of us; and changes in tax legislation that affect us. The order in which these factors appear should not be construed to indicate their relative importance or priority.
We caution that these factors may not be exhaustive and that many of these factors are beyond our ability to control or predict. Accordingly, forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as a prediction of actual results. We undertake no duty and have no obligation to update forward-looking statements.
CONTACT: Henry Schein, Inc.
Steven Paladino, 631-843-5500
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
steven.paladino@henryschein.com
or
Investors:
Neal Goldner, 631-845-2820
Vice President, Investor Relations
neal.goldner@henryschein.com
or
Media:
Susan Vassallo, 631-843-5562
Vice President, Corporate Communications
susan.vassallo@henryschein.com
SOURCE: Henry Schein, Inc.