Haemonetics' Nutter to be succeeded by Concannon

Blood collection and processing systems maker Haemonetics Corp. of Braintree said today that Brian Concannon will take over as president and chief executive from Brad Nutter in April.

Concannon also will join the company' board of directors as part of a succession plan. He joined the company in 2003 as president of the patient division and was made chief operating officer in 2007.

After April, Nutter will remain executive chairman of the board.

Haemonetics also said today that its fiscal second-quarter profit rose 33 percent, topping Wall Street forecasts.

For the period ended Sept. 27, the company earned $14.8 million, or 57 cents per share, up from a year-ago profit of $11.2 million, or 42 cents per share, during the same period a year prior. Revenue rose 20 percent to $145.9 million from $121.2 million.

Excluding restructuring charges, the company earned 58 cents per share.

"We're seeing strength across our diversified product lines and geographies, and our prospects for growth have never been better," Nutter said in a statement.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a profit of 52 cents per share on revenue of $136.3 million.

Disposable plasma product sales rose 33 percent to $50 million and blood bank disposable products rose 6 percent to $36 million. Red cell disposable product sales rose 8 percent to $12 million, software revenue rose 15 percent to $10 million and surgical product sales rose 36 percent to $21 million.

Revenue from the company's OrthoPAT autotransfusion system rose 7 percent to $8 million.

Shares rose $2.03, or 4.1 percent, to $51.62 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock has traded between $48.32 and $67.49 over the last 52 weeks. (AP)