Timing of cobalt-60 shipments to customers and the planned one-month National Research Universal (NRU) reactor shutdown contributed to a 27% drop in revenue for Nordion in its second quarter (end-April 30).
For the period, Nordion posted revenues of $50 million U.S., compared with $68.3 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2011. The company had net income of $3.2 million, compared with a net loss of $7.5 million in the same quarter a year ago.
The company said that revenue from its TheraSphere brachytherapy product was $12.4 million, increasing by $1.2 million or 11% in the second quarter of fiscal 2012. Despite the rise, TheraSphere revenue was lower than anticipated because of a decline in doses administered at several of the company's larger accounts. This decline was primarily due to reduced availability of certain key interventional radiologists within the multidisciplinary teams that support the administration of TheraSphere at these accounts.
Revenue in the company's Medical Isotopes business was $20.8 million in the second quarter, declining $6.8 million or 25% compared to the corresponding quarter of 2011. Reactor isotopes revenue was $17.2 million in the second quarter, down $4.7 million or 21%, while cyclotron isotopes revenue of $3.6 million fell by $2.1 million or 37%. Cyclotron isotopes were lower mainly due to fewer shipments of strontium-82 and less customer demand for thallium-201 and iodine-123.
The decrease in reactor isotopes revenue in the second quarter of 2012 mainly came from reduced sales volume of molybdenum-99. Sales volume in the second quarter of fiscal 2012 was affected by two unplanned supply interruptions during the quarter, as well as a one-month planned maintenance shutdown of the NRU reactor, Nordion's main source of medical isotopes.
