Thermo Fisher 4Q Profit Drops on Tax Charge

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (TMO) on Wednesday said net income in the fourth quarter fell 16% due to a one-time provision related the U.S. tax-law changes.

The Waltham, Mass., biotechnology company posted a quarterly profit of $528 million, or $1.30 a share, compared with $629.5 million, or $1.59 a share, in the year earlier period.

Analysts polled by FactSet had forecast earnings of $1.69 a share.

Thermo Fisher said it recorded a tax provision of $204 million following President Donald Trump's December overhaul of tax law. On an adjusted basis, the company earned $2.79 a share.

Revenue grew 22% to $6.05 billion from $4.95 billion for the same period last year, the company said.

Thermo Fisher said it was increasing its quarterly dividend by 13% to 17 cents. The company also said it would pay a $500 bonus to each of its roughly 68,000 non-executive employees around the world as a result of the benefit of the new tax reform.

President and Chief Executive Marc Casper said the company is "in an excellent position" going into 2018.

Write to Oliver Griffin at oliver.griffin@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 31, 2018 06:58 ET (11:58 GMT)