DJOFL third quarter net sales decrease to $233.6 million

DJO Incorporated ("DJO" or the "Company"), a global provider of medical device solutions for musculoskeletal health, vascular health and pain management, today announced financial results for its operating subsidiary, DJO Finance LLC ("DJOFL"), for the third quarter of 2010, ended October 2, 2010.

“Operating expenses were slightly higher year-over-year as a percentage of revenue, reflecting our investment in U.S. commercial operations to accelerate our future sales growth.”

Third Quarter Results

DJOFL achieved net sales from continuing operations for the third quarter of 2010 of $233.6 million, compared to net sales from continuing operations of $236.2 million for the third quarter of 2009. Sales growth in the third quarter of 2010 was impacted by unfavorable changes in foreign currency exchange rates and by the sale or discontinuation of certain non-core product lines in the prior year. On the basis of constant currency, excluding a $3.3 million unfavorable impact from changes in foreign exchange rates from the rates in effect in the third quarter of 2009, and excluding $2.3 million of revenue in the prior year period from product lines sold or discontinued, net sales in the third quarter of 2010 grew 1.3 percent over pro forma net sales in the third quarter of 2009. The third quarters of 2010 and 2009 each included 63 shipping days.

For the third quarter of 2010, DJOFL reported a net loss attributable to DJOFL of $7.7 million, compared to $11.4 million for the third quarter of 2009. As detailed in the attached financial tables, the results for the current and prior year third quarter periods were impacted by significant non-recurring integration charges and other adjustments related to ongoing restructuring activities and acquisitions.

The Company defines Adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) attributable to DJOFL plus loss (income) from discontinued operations, interest expense, net, provision (benefit) for income taxes, and depreciation and amortization, further adjusted for certain non-cash items, non-recurring items and other adjustment items, including the addition of pre-acquisition EBITDA from businesses acquired during the period and certain future cost savings expected to be achieved related to acquisitions, all as permitted in calculating covenant compliance under the Company's senior secured credit facility and the indentures governing its 10.875% senior notes and its 11.75% and 9.75% senior subordinated notes. A reconciliation between net loss and Adjusted EBITDA is included in the attached financial tables.

Adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter of 2010, before net pre-acquisition Adjusted EBITDA related to a recent acquisition, was $61.3 million, or 26.2 percent of net sales, decreasing 5.6 percent, compared to Adjusted EBITDA, before net pre-acquisition Adjusted EBITDA and future cost savings, of $64.9 million, or 27.5 percent of net sales, for the third quarter of 2009. On the basis of constant currency, excluding a $1.4 million unfavorable change in foreign currency exchange rates compared to the rates in effect in the third quarter of 2009, Adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter of 2010 was $62.6 million, decreasing 3.5 percent compared to the third quarter of 2009. The year-over-year decrease is primarily attributable to a small decline in gross profit margin due primarily to changes in product and channel mix and a slight increase in operating expenses as a percentage of revenue, primarily related to investments in the Company's U.S. commercial functions designed to accelerate future revenue growth. Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of net sales for the third quarter reflects a normal sequential decline from the second quarter due to the impact of the seasonal summer slow down in our European markets. For the twelve month period ended October 2, 2010 ("LTM"), Adjusted EBITDA was $263.7 million, or 27.1 percent of LTM net sales, including $0.3 million of pre-acquisition EBITDA related to the recent acquisition of a distribution business in South Africa, net of EBITDA disposed related to products sold or discontinued.

As of October 2, 2010, the Company had cash balances of $50.2 million and available liquidity of $100 million under its revolving line of credit.

Nine Month Results

Net sales from continuing operations for the first nine months of 2010 were $716.2 million, compared with net sales from continuing operations of $689.0 million for the first nine months of 2009. Sales growth in the first nine months of 2010 was impacted by unfavorable changes in foreign currency exchange rates as well as the sale or discontinuation of certain non-core product lines in the prior year. On the basis of constant currency, excluding a $0.9 million unfavorable impact from changes in foreign exchange rates from rates in effect in the first nine months of 2009, and excluding $7.3 million of revenue in the prior year period from discontinued product lines, net sales in the first nine months of 2010 grew 5.2 percent over pro forma net sales in the first nine months of 2009. The nine month period of 2010 contained 192 shipping days, while the comparable period from 2009 included 188 shipping days.

For the first nine months of 2010, DJOFL reported a net loss attributable to DJOFL of $41.1 million, compared to a net loss attributable to DJOFL of $38.8 million for the first nine months of 2009. As detailed in the attached financial tables, the results for the current and prior year nine month periods were impacted by significant non-recurring charges and other adjustments related to ongoing restructuring activities and acquisitions.

Adjusted EBITDA for the first nine months of 2010, before pre-acquisition EBITDA related to recent acquisitions and future cost savings to be achieved related to the DJO Merger, was $190.2 million, or 26.6 percent of net sales, reflecting an increase of 7.3 percent, compared to $177.2 million, or 25.7 percent of net sales, for the first nine months of 2009. Adjusted EBITDA for the first nine months of 2010 was impacted by $0.4 million due to unfavorable changes in foreign currency exchange rates from the rates in effect in the first nine months of 2009. On the basis of constant currency, Adjusted EBITDA for the first nine months of 2010 increased 7.5 percent over Adjusted EBITDA for the first nine months of 2009.

"We are pleased to report our third quarter results," said Les Cross, president and chief executive officer. "Overall, our quarterly revenue results reflect market conditions that have stabilized over the past year, but remain subdued by a number of macro-economic factors that led to lower healthcare utilization in the third quarter. As has been the case for several quarters now, we are seeing solid growth in several parts of our business, but that growth continues to be partially offset by headwinds faced in other areas. Our sales growth rate in Q3 was also somewhat constrained by a stronger comparable period in the third quarter of 2009, which marked the beginning of recovery in DJO's business from the low point of the economic recession in the first half of 2009. The third quarter of 2009 also included a large, one-time sale to a certain international customer totaling nearly $1 million. While these items converged to impact our reported year-over-year growth rates in the third quarter, we were pleased to see average daily sales in the third quarter for our U.S. businesses increase modestly from average daily sales in the second quarter. Due to seasonality, we did not expect sequential growth in average daily sales in our international business.

"For 2010 to date, we have delivered positive sales growth in spite of certain challenges in our market environment. Our growth has been driven by new GPO-related bracing and supports revenue and good sales traction from several new products launched in the first half of this year.

"Sales in our Bracing and Supports, Recovery Sciences, International and Surgical Implant segments were $78.2 million, $85.9 million, $55.0 million and $14.6 million, respectively. In constant currency, and on a pro forma basis excluding sales in the prior year period from product lines sold or discontinued, these sales levels represent year-over-year growth (decline) from the third quarter of 2009 of 2.3%, 1.2%, 1.0% and (2.7%), respectively.

"Our Bracing and Supports segment continued to benefit from the conversion of new hospital accounts under our Novation soft goods contract. Sales of new products launched in the first half of 2010, including the DonJoy Armor FourcePoint™ and VenaFlow Elite™, also continued to gain traction. Partially offsetting these gains, Bracing and Supports growth was impacted by the conversion of certain units previously billed to insurance companies at higher average selling prices to units sold at reduced average selling prices to clinics choosing to do their own insurance billing. While we generally retain the unit sales in these conversions, with comparable Adjusted EBITDA margins, the lower average selling prices for the converted units negatively impact our revenue growth and gross profit margins.

"Third quarter sales in our Recovery Sciences segment, which includes our Empi, Chattanooga and Regeneration businesses, were again led by Empi's new Active™ product, which was launched in the first quarter of 2010. The Active is the first soft back brace to incorporate TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) technology to deliver wireless non-invasive pain control. Revenue growth in our other Recovery Sciences businesses continues to be constrained by economic conditions that are reducing healthcare utilization rates. Additionally, Chattanooga faced a difficult year-over-year comparison with the beginning of the Chattanooga recovery occurring in the third quarter of 2009.

"Third quarter sales within our International segment were again driven by bracing and supports sales within all major international markets and by continued sales traction of Chattanooga's new Shockwave™ product, which we launched at the beginning of the second quarter. However, International growth was reduced by the impact of a one-time sale in the third quarter of 2009 of nearly $1 million, slower sales of CPM (continuous passive motion) products and continued challenges in the consumer markets for our consumer-focused Cefar Compex products. We are very pleased to announce the acquisition of the bracing and supports and vascular systems business from our South African distributor late in the third quarter. This acquisition allows us to capture the full in-market margin on our future sales in South Africa and better focus on opportunities to sell the full range of DJO products in this market.

"Our Surgical Implant segment faced challenges in the third quarter similar to those we discussed in the second quarter of this year, related to the loss of a few key surgeon relationships. However, we are encouraged by our new surgical product pipeline that is beginning to roll out. Late in the third quarter, we launched our Lima™ Hip Revision System, which rounds out our hip offering with an excellent revision implant system that has extensive and proven clinical performance. While we have just started selling this product in the U.S. under a distribution agreement with its European manufacturer, Lima Corporate ("Lima"), Lima has sold its modular revision hip for several years, providing revision hip surgeons outside of the U.S. with important options in modularity, sizing and implant positioning to perform the most challenging revision hip procedures. We believe this new product and others we expect to launch later this year will contribute to revenue growth and provide us with important new opportunities in the reconstruction market.

"With actual sales levels slightly reduced in the third quarter, compared to the third quarter of 2009, due to unfavorable changes in foreign exchange rates and the sale or discontinuation of certain non-core product lines, combined with certain changes in our revenue mix, our third quarter adjusted gross profit margin fell by 30 basis points compared to the third quarter of 2009.

"Operating expenses were slightly higher year-over-year as a percentage of revenue, reflecting our investment in U.S. commercial operations to accelerate our future sales growth.

"Adjusted EBITDA was 26.2% of net sales in the third quarter, compared to 27.5% of net sales in the third quarter of 2009.

"We were pleased to announce the closing, on October 18, 2010, of the sale of $300 million of new 9.75% senior subordinated notes due 2017. The proceeds from this offering were used to redeem our $200 million of 11.75% senior subordinated notes, prepay a portion of our senior secured term loan, and pay related premiums, fees and expenses. The transaction also resulted in extending maturities on a portion of our total debt and improving our senior secured leverage ratio.

"We remain optimistic about the fourth quarter, which is generally our seasonally strongest quarter. It is also our shortest quarter this year with 61 shipping days, but on the basis of average daily sales, the fourth quarter should benefit from continued traction from new products launched this year, and from several other initiatives at work within our U.S. commercial operations team. We acknowledge that industry-related headwinds remain, but we have plans to mitigate these economic impacts and improve our sales growth moving forward.

"On behalf of the DJO management team and our Board of Directors, I would like to extend our appreciation to all DJO employees for a job well done in the third quarter."