Revenue during the quarter went down marginally by 0.15 percent to $47 million from $47.07 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter contracted 5 basis points over the previous year period to 63.24 percent. Total expenses were 81.07 percent of quarterly revenues, up from 71.83 percent for the same period last year. That has resulted in a contraction of 925 basis points in operating margin to 18.93 percent.

Operating income for the quarter was $8.90 million, compared with $13.26 million in the previous year period.

John A. Kraeutler, chief executive officer and Chairman of the Board said, "Fiscal 2016 year-end results finished as previewed in our October 18, 2016 pre-announcement. As discussed previously, strong revenue growth was reported in several key business units including +8% performance from our core, non-molecular life science business, plus two quarters of revenue contribution from the recently acquired Magellan Diagnostics operation, both of which continue to perform quite well. Offsetting these positive results were disappointing outcomes due to essentially flat revenues in our EMEA diagnostics regions (constant currency) and low-single-digit growth in our molecular life science business (constant currency). Additionally, due to multiple competing technology platforms, plus generic competition in several legacy product lines, core diagnostics revenues in the Americas declined by 8%. Our response, which was initiated during fiscal 2016, included key changes in sales and marketing leadership, a strengthened focus on contributions from our Latin American and Pacific Rim market geographies, accelerated new product development and leveraging the synergies available through Magellan Diagnostics."

For financial year 2017, Meridian Bioscience, Inc expects revenue to be in the range of $205 million to $210 million. The company projects diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $0.81 to $0.85.