SonoSite fourth quarter revenue increases 27% to $89 million

SonoSite, Inc. (Nasdaq: SONO), the world leader and specialist in bedside and point-of-care ultrasound, today announced preliminary revenue results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2010.

“We made investments in growth initiatives, acquisitions, and partnerships, as well as restructuring charges to position ourselves for greater revenue growth and operating leverage going forward.”

Revenue for the fourth quarter was approximately $89 million, an increase of 27% for the quarter. Full-year 2010 revenue reached $275 million compared to $227 million in 2009, an increase of 21%.

VisualSonics revenue was $8.8 million for the quarter, representing the second consecutive strong performance since the company was acquired in June 2010.

SonoSite revenue, excluding VSI, was approximately $80 million, an increase of 15% compared to the fourth quarter of 2009, and $257 million for the full-year, an increase of 13%.

COMMENTARY

"We accelerated right through the finish line and saw tangible signs of improving momentum," said Kevin M. Goodwin, SonoSite's President and CEO. "We ended the year with a record breaking revenue performance and improved results across the business. We saw solid growth across our core point-of-care markets, an improvement in impedance cardiography (ICG) sales, and despite some country market issues, we stabilized internationally, and solidly exceeded our internal revenue expectations. The VisualSonics business delivered solid results with revenues exceeding internal targets alongside a strengthening outlook."

Mr. Goodwin continued, "During 2010, we accelerated into the rapidly changing US healthcare reform dynamics and executed on our evolving strategy for the US, resulting in US revenue that was up 23% for the year."

"We took actions throughout the year to improve our operating efficiency, and we expect this strong revenue growth to flow through to earnings performance," said Marcus Y. Smith, SonoSite's Chief Financial Officer. "We made investments in growth initiatives, acquisitions, and partnerships, as well as restructuring charges to position ourselves for greater revenue growth and operating leverage going forward."

These estimates are preliminary. SonoSite plans to report complete fourth quarter and 2010 financial results on February 17, 2011 after the close of the financial market.

SonoSite will also be presenting at the 29^th Annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 at 9:30 am Pacific Time, which will be webcast live. An audio replay will be available for 30 days following and can be accessed via SonoSite's website at www.sonosite.com/investorinformation/webcasts.

SOURCE SonoSite, Inc.