Henry Schein Inc. says sales and profit up

The international medical and dental equipment supplier Henry Schein Inc., Long Island's largest publicly held company, Tuesday reported growth of 4.6 percent in profit and 11.5 percent in sales for its most recent quarter.

The Melville company, which also sells veterinary equipment and supplies, reported a $91.9 million profit on $2.11 billion sales for the quarter ended Sept. 24, compared to $87.8 million on $1.89 billion sales in the same quarter last year.

In pre-market trading Tuesday the company was down $3.32 to $66; its stock price is up 23 percent in the past 12 months.

With a market capitalization of $6.4 billion and 14,000 employees, Henry Schein made $351.8 million on $8 billion in sales last year. It is a Fortune 500 company, ranked at 317 in the magazine's 2011 list.

Henry Schein distributes its products internationally, mostly to office-based practitioners. It estimated its quarter-to-quarter sales growth at 11.5 percent overall, with 7.4 percent from U.S. sales and 4.1 percent from foreign sales.

Chief executive Stanley Bergman said overall sales were affected by lowered revenue for flu vaccine sales; and growth in dental equipment sales during the quarter were moderated by  "a cautious environment for capital equipment purchases."

Schein's animal health division sales increased more than 9 percent "due primarily to expanding the breadth and depth of our product offerings," Bergman said.

The company said it bought back 1.6 million shares of its stock during the third quarter at an average price of $62.40 per share; and it has a remaining $167.5 million authorized for future buybacks.

Photo: Chief executive Stanley Bergman.

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