Sectra's cooperation partner Philips Medical Systems has acquired a company in the US that provides the Philips company its own capacity to develop software for processing digital X-ray images, so-called PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System).
Since 1997, Sectra has had a global cooperation with Philips Medical Systems, which has sold Sectra's software for processing digital X-ray images worldwide.
"We have several project agreements with Philips that extend up to ten years and our cooperation will successively be terminated," relates Sectra's President and CEO Jan-Olof Brüer. "We assess that the termination will impact on our sales and earnings in the current fiscal year. At this time, however, it is difficult to provide any reliable view of the financial effects, since this depends on how much time the termination will require."
The change provides Sectra the opportunity to review its sales channels. Sectra's sales of PACS are handled on a proprietary basis in Scandinavia and other selected markets as well as through partners, of which Philips was the largest. Sectra's largest sales together with Philips have been in the US.
"Part of the sales for which Philips is currently responsible will be taken over by other partners that today are active in the same markets as Philips," says Jan-Olof Brüer. "At the same time, we gain the opportunity to advance our positions and will increase our focus on own sales in important key markets, as we do today in Scandinavia, where we have captured more than half of the total PACS market."
The agreement with Philips does not involve Sectra's major future product, the digital mammography system Sectra MicroDose Mammography.
Dr. Jan-Olof Brüer, President and CEO Sectra AB, Tel +46 (0)13-23 52 09
You can find answers to frequently asked questions for PACS customers who wonder what the change in the cooperation between Sectra and Philips will bring for them here.
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Sectra, the recipient of the 2004 Frost & Sullivan Medical Imaging Company of the Year Award, is one of today's major diagnostic imaging providers with more than 650 installations worldwide. Sectra's core business is delivering top-of-the-line, high-availability, robust enterprise diagnostic imaging for 24/7 operation. In Scandinavia, Sectra is the market leader with more than 50% of all film-free installations. Internationally, Sectra PACS™ is marketed and sold through
various partners. The company has a large number of systems installed in most major countries in Europe, the Far East and North America.
Sectra, founded in 1978, has its roots at the Linköping Institute of Technology in Sweden. Since the mid-1980s, Sectra has successfully conducted development and sales of cutting edge products in expansive niche segments. Today, Sectra operations include medical systems and secure communication systems.
Operations are conducted in eight countries and the company has approximately 370 employees. Sales for the fiscal year 2004/2005 totaled SEK 456 million. Since March 1999, Sectra's shares have been quoted on the O-list of the Stockholm Stock Exchange.
E-mail: info/d/press/a/sectra/d/se