Imatron posts record Q4 results

Imatron, a South San Francisco, CA-based diagnostic imaging company that creates electron beam tomography heart scanners, posted the highest profits in the company’s history at the end of 1999. Imatron made a revenue gain of $7 million in 1999 over the previous year, netting $37.5 million compared to $30.7 million in 1998. Net loss was $6.6 million for the 1999 fiscal year, compared to a net loss of $14.8 million for the prior year. Revenues from continuing operations in the fourth quarter of 1999 increased by 58% to $12.9 million compared to revenues of $8.2 million for the fourth quarter of 1998.

These figures do not include business produced by HeartScan Imaging, a program that enabled customers to visit a clinic and receive a heart scan using the company’s Ultrafast CT scanners. Imatron sold this unprofitable subsidiary in November 1999.

The company attributes its financial high to selling a record seven scanners during the fourth quarter and 19 for the year. This is compared with sales of four scanners in the fourth quarter of 1998 and 15 for that year. In addition, the company increased its manufacturing capacity.

Imatron is confident sales will continue to surge because peer-reviewed journal articles support both coronary artery scanning and electron beam angiography, applications of the company’s proprietary electron beam tomography technology that were recently cleared by the FDA.