Zimmer Holdings Inc. Monday reported net sales and earnings for the fourth quarter and year ending Dec. 31.

For the fourth quarter, the company reported net sales of $801 million and diluted earnings per share of $0.81 and $0.71 adjusted. Full year net sales were $2.98 billion and diluted earnings per share were $2.19 reported and $2.41 adjusted. The company's fourth quarter sales and diluted earnings per share results adjusted exceeded the high end of the company's guidance and First Call estimates of $783 million and $0.64 respectively.

The company's reported results reflect its acquisitions of Centerpulse AG Oct. 2, 2003, and Implex Corp. April 23, 2004. Reported results include in-process R&D write-offs, acquisition and integration expenses, inventory step-up, a tax benefit from decreased deferred taxes of acquired Centerpulse operations that resulted from a reduction in the ongoing Swiss tax rate, and the prior year cumulative effect of a change in accounting principle for instrumentation as applicable.

"Zimmer's winning performance continues as evidenced by our strong sales, margins and cash flow," said Ray Elliott, Zimmer chairman, president and chief executive officer. "During 2004, we invested heavily in the expansion of landscape-changing innovations such as Minimally Invasive Solutionsª Procedures and Technologies and Trabecular Metalª Technology. We delivered more than 40 major developments to the market. We generated more than $540 million in new product sales. The future should be equally rich with a 146-project pipeline, two-thirds of which is devoted to innovative technology and advanced platforms."

During the year, the company trained more than 1,400 surgeons, added two new Zimmer Institutes, documented potentially improved hospital profitability with almost 1,000 patients, launched a 13-city low-cost DTC campaign capitalizing on more than 100,000 visits to the company's MIS "Find-a-Doc" Web-based surgeon locator, and supported 17 MIS papers.

"As we enter 2005, a key focus continues to be the integration of Centerpulse and Implex, including the realization of both targeted synergies and identified opportunities," said Elliott. "The year 2004 was a great beginning - we are ahead of schedule, having already accomplished more than 2,000 of the total 3,364 integration milestones and raised the estimated, sustainable cost synergies to slightly over $100 million annually from our original estimates of $70 to $90 million." [[In-content Ad]]