WASHINGTON, Jan. 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Danaher Corporation (NYSE: DHR) (the "Company") today announced results for the fourth quarter and full year 2020.  All results in this release reflect only continuing operations unless otherwise noted.

For the quarter ended December 31, 2020, net earnings were $1.2 billion, or $1.66 per diluted common share which represents a 55.0% year-over-year increase from the comparable 2019 period.

Non-GAAP adjusted diluted net earnings per common share for the fourth quarter 2020 were $2.08 which represents a 62.5% increase over the comparable 2019 period.  For the fourth quarter 2020, revenues increased 39.0% year-over-year to $6.8 billion, with 15.5% non-GAAP core revenue growth including Cytiva.

For the full year 2020, net earnings were $3.6 billion, or $4.89 per diluted common share which represents a 50.0% year-over-year increase.  Non-GAAP adjusted diluted net earnings per common share for 2020 were $6.31 per share, which represents a 43.0% increase over the comparable 2019 amount.  Revenues for the full year 2020 increased 24.5% to $22.3 billion, with 9.5% non-GAAP core revenue growth including Cytiva.

Operating cash flow for the full year 2020 was $6.2 billion, representing a 70.0% increase year-over-year, and non-GAAP free cash flow was $5.4 billion, representing a 79.0% increase year-over-year.

For the first quarter 2021 the Company anticipates that non-GAAP core revenue growth including Cytiva will be in the mid to high-teens range.

For the full year 2021, the Company anticipates non-GAAP core revenue growth including Cytiva will be in the low-double digit range.

Rainer M. Blair, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "For the full year 2020, we achieved nearly 10% core revenue growth including Cytiva, strong margin expansion, and more than $5 billion of free cash flow. But our financial results only tell part of the story. Despite many unforeseen challenges as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, our team turned the challenges we faced into impactful opportunities to support our customers and the global community. We're proud to play a pivotal role in the fight against COVID-19, and our 2020 results are a testament to our team's commitment and perseverance."

Blair added, "2020 was also a transformative year for Danaher with the addition of Cytiva—the largest acquisition in our Company's history and one that has strengthened our position as a global science and technology leader. Going forward, we believe the combination of our portfolio, innovative team, and strong balance sheet—all powered by the Danaher Business System—positions us to deliver sustainable, long-term shareholder value for many years to come."

Danaher will discuss its results during its quarterly investor conference call today starting at 8:00 a.m. ET.  The call and an accompanying slide presentation will be webcast on the "Investors" section of Danaher's website, www.danaher.com, under the subheading "Events & Presentations."  A replay of the webcast will be available in the same section of Danaher's website shortly after the conclusion of the presentation and will remain available until the next quarterly earnings call.

The conference call can be accessed by dialing 866-503-8675 within the U.S. or by dialing +1 786-815-8792 outside the U.S. a few minutes before the 8:00 a.m. ET start and telling the operator that you are dialing in for Danaher's earnings conference call (access code 7971317).  A replay of the conference call will be available shortly after the conclusion of the call and until February 11, 2021.  You can access the replay dial-in information on the "Investors" section of Danaher's website under the subheading "Events & Presentations."  In addition, presentation materials relating to Danaher's results have been posted to the "Investors" section of Danaher's website under the subheading "Quarterly Earnings."

ABOUT DANAHER

Danaher is a global science and technology innovator committed to helping its customers solve complex challenges and improving quality of life around the world. Its family of world class brands has leadership positions in the demanding and attractive health care, environmental and applied end-markets. With more than 20 operating companies, Danaher's globally diverse team of approximately 69,000 associates is united by a common culture and operating system, the Danaher Business System, and its Shared Purpose, Helping Realize Life's Potential. For more information, please visit www.danaher.com.

NON-GAAP MEASURES

In addition to the financial measures prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), this earnings release also contains non-GAAP financial measures.  Calculations of these measures, the reasons why we believe these measures provide useful information to investors, a reconciliation of these measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures, as applicable, and other information relating to these non-GAAP measures are included in the supplemental reconciliation schedule attached.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Statements in this release that are not strictly historical, including the statements regarding the Company's anticipated financial performance for the first quarter and full year 2021, role in the fight against COVID-19, positioning to deliver long-term shareholder value and any other statements regarding events or developments that we believe or anticipate will or may occur in the future are "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual results, developments and business decisions to differ materially from those suggested or indicated by such forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. These factors include, among other things, the highly uncertain and unpredictable severity, magnitude and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic (and the related governmental, business and community responses thereto) on our business, results of operations and financial condition, Danaher's ability to successfully integrate the operations and employees of the Biopharma business Danaher acquired from General Electric Company (now known as Cytiva) with Danaher's existing business, the ability to realize anticipated financial, tax and operational synergies and benefits from such acquisition, Cytiva's performance and maintenance of important business relationships, the impact of our debt obligations (including the debt incurred to finance the acquisition of Cytiva) on our operations and liquidity, deterioration of or instability in the economy, the markets we serve and the financial markets (including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic), developments and uncertainties in U.S. policy stemming from the U.S. administration, such as changes in U.S. trade and tariff policies and the reaction of other countries thereto, contractions or growth rates and cyclicality of markets we serve, competition, our ability to develop and successfully market new products and technologies and expand into new markets, the potential for improper conduct by our employees, agents or business partners, our compliance with applicable laws and regulations (including regulations relating to medical devices and the health care industry), the results of our clinical trials and perceptions thereof, our ability to effectively address cost reductions and other changes in the health care industry, our ability to successfully identify and consummate appropriate acquisitions and strategic investments and successfully complete divestitures and other dispositions, our ability to integrate the businesses we acquire and achieve the anticipated benefits of such acquisitions, contingent liabilities relating to acquisitions, investments and divestitures (including tax-related and other contingent liabilities relating to past and future IPOs, split-offs or spin-offs), security breaches or other disruptions of our information technology systems or violations of data privacy laws, the impact of our restructuring activities on our ability to grow, risks relating to potential impairment of goodwill and other intangible assets, currency exchange rates, tax audits and changes in our tax rate and income tax liabilities, changes in tax laws applicable to multinational companies, litigation and other contingent liabilities including intellectual property and environmental, health and safety matters, the rights of the United States government to use, disclose and license certain intellectual property we license if we fail to commercialize it, risks relating to product, service or software defects, product liability and recalls, risks relating to product manufacturing, our relationships with and the performance of our channel partners, uncertainties relating to collaboration arrangements with third-parties, commodity costs and surcharges, our ability to adjust purchases and manufacturing capacity to reflect market conditions, reliance on sole sources of supply, the impact of deregulation on demand for our products and services, labor matters, international economic, political, legal, compliance and business factors (including the impact of the United Kingdom's separation from the EU and remaining uncertainty relating to the terms of such separation), disruptions relating to man-made and natural disasters (including pandemics such as COVID-19) and pension plan costs. Additional information regarding the factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements is available in our SEC filings, including our 2019 Annual Report on Form 10-K and our first, second and third quarter 2020 Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release and except to the extent required by applicable law, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events and developments or otherwise.

See the accompanying Notes to Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Financial Measures

We define free cash flow as operating cash flows from continuing operations, less payments for additions to property, plant and equipment from continuing operations ("capital expenditures") plus the proceeds from sales of plant, property and equipment from continuing operations ("capital disposals").  

See the accompanying Notes to Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Notes to Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Statement Regarding Non-GAAP Measures

Each of the non-GAAP measures set forth in this file should be considered in addition to, and not as a replacement for or superior to, the comparable GAAP measure, and may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies.  Management believes that these measures provide useful information to investors by offering additional ways of viewing Danaher Corporation's ("Danaher" or the "Company") results that, when reconciled to the corresponding GAAP measure, help our investors to:

• with respect to adjusted diluted net earnings per common share, understand the long-term profitability trends of our business and compare our profitability to prior and future periods and to our peers;
• with respect to core sales, identify underlying growth trends in our business and compare our sales performance with prior and future periods and to our peers; and
• with respect to free cash flow, understand Danaher's ability to generate cash without external financings, strengthen its balance sheet, invest in its business and grow its business through acquisitions and other strategic opportunities (although a limitation of free cash flow is that it does not take into account the Company's debt service requirements and other non-discretionary expenditures, and as a result the entire free cash flow amount is not necessarily available for discretionary expenditures).

We also present core sales on a basis that includes sales attributable to Cytiva (formerly the Biopharma Business of General Electric Company's ("GE") Life Sciences business), which Danaher acquired from GE on March 31, 2020.  Historically Danaher has calculated core sales solely on a basis that excludes sales from acquired businesses recorded prior to the first anniversary of the acquisition.  However, given Cytiva's significant size and historical core sales growth rate, in each case compared to Danaher's existing businesses, management believes it is appropriate to also present core sales on a basis that includes Cytiva sales.  Management believes this presentation provides useful information to investors by demonstrating the impact Cytiva has on the Company's current growth profile, rather than waiting to demonstrate such impact 12 months after the acquisition when Cytiva would normally have been included in Danaher's core sales calculation.  Danaher calculates period-to-period core sales growth including Cytiva by adding to the baseline period sales Cytiva's historical sales from such period (when it was owned by GE, as applicable), net of the sales of the divested product lines and also adding the Cytiva sales to the current period.

Management uses these non-GAAP measures to measure the Company's operating and financial performance, and uses core sales and non-GAAP measures similar to adjusted diluted net earnings per common share and free cash flow in the Company's executive compensation program.

• The items we exclude from adjusted diluted net earnings per common share are excluded for the following reasons:
• Amortization of Intangible Assets. We exclude the amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets because the amount and timing of such charges are significantly impacted by the timing, size, number and nature of the acquisitions we consummate. While we have a history of significant acquisition activity we do not acquire businesses on a predictable cycle, and the amount of an acquisition's purchase price allocated to intangible assets and related amortization term are unique to each acquisition and can vary significantly from acquisition to acquisition. Exclusion of this amortization expense facilitates more consistent comparisons of operating results over time between our newly acquired and long-held businesses, and with both acquisitive and non-acquisitive peer companies. We believe however that it is important for investors to understand that such intangible assets contribute to sales generation and that intangible asset amortization related to past acquisitions will recur in future periods until such intangible assets have been fully amortized.
• Restructuring Charges. We exclude costs incurred pursuant to discrete restructuring plans that are fundamentally different (in terms of the size, strategic nature and planning requirements, as well as the inconsistent frequency, of such plans) from the ongoing productivity improvements that result from application of the Danaher Business System. Because these restructuring plans are incremental to the core activities that arise in the ordinary course of our business and we believe are not indicative of Danaher's ongoing operating costs in a given period, we exclude these costs to facilitate a more consistent comparison of operating results over time.
• Other Adjustments. With respect to the other items excluded (as applicable), we exclude these items because they are of a nature and/or size that occur with inconsistent frequency, occur for reasons that may be unrelated to Danaher's commercial performance during the period and/or we believe that such items may obscure underlying business trends and make comparisons of long-term performance difficult.
• With respect to adjusted average common stock and common equivalent shares outstanding, Danaher's Mandatory Convertible Preferred Stock ("MCPS") will mandatorily convert into Danaher common stock on the mandatory conversion date, which is expected to be April 15, 2022 and April 15, 2023 for the 4.75% and 5.0% MCPS, respectively (unless converted or redeemed earlier in accordance with the terms of the applicable certificate of designations). In this file, we use this measure to present the earnings per share-related non-GAAP measures on a basis that assumes the MCPS had already been converted as of the beginning of the applicable period (and accordingly also exclude the dividends that were actually paid on the MCPS during such period, since such dividends would no longer be paid once the MCPS convert). We believe this presentation provides useful information to investors by helping them understand what the net impact will be on Danaher's earnings per share-related non-GAAP measures once the MCPS convert into Danaher common stock.
• With respect to core sales and core sales including Cytiva, (1) we exclude the impact of currency translation because it is not under management's control, is subject to volatility and can obscure underlying business trends, and (2) we exclude the effect of acquisitions (other than Cytiva, in the case of core sales including Cytiva) and divested product lines because the timing, size, number and nature of such transactions can vary significantly from period-to-period and between us and our peers, which we believe may obscure underlying business trends and make comparisons of long-term performance difficult.
• With respect to the free cash flow, we exclude payments for additions to property, plant and equipment (net of the proceeds from capital disposals) to demonstrate the amount of operating cash flow for the period that remains after accounting for the Company's capital expenditure requirements.
• With respect to forecasted core sales and forecasted core sales including Cytiva, we do not reconcile these measures to the comparable GAAP measure because of the inherent difficulty in predicting and estimating the future impact and timing of currency translation, acquisitions and divested product lines, which would be reflected in any forecasted GAAP revenue.

SOURCE Danaher Corporation