Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions). The first question comes from the line of Stephen Simpson with Northland Securities.
Stephen Simpson – Northland Securities
I was curious if you were able or willing to break out, at least on a relative basis, the impact of those factors you mentioned on gross margins, the various factors that played into the GM, which ones were more significant or less so?
Scott Lamb
The two most significant are the favorable product mix and the favorable exchange rate with our factory in Mexico. Each one represents about 200 basis points of difference, and the rest comes from lower freight and efficiencies.
Stephen Simpson – Northland Securities
Could you give us an updated number on how many sales people you have on staff as of at the end of the quarter?
Dr. George Lopez
100.
Operator
(Operator Instructions). The next question comes from the line of Mitra Ramgopal with Sidoti.
Mitra Ramgopal – Sidoti
If I had to start with critical care, if you could just recap a little of the acquisition as to what made you decide to be more involved in a business given that maybe a year ago we weren’t sure in what direction you wanted to go to in critical care. Maybe you can just help us in terms of why you think it’s attractive for you.
Dr. George Lopez
We think it’s attractive for a number of reasons. One, we think that there is growth potential with focus, if we focus on the business. It wasn’t Hospira’s primary focus especially with Project Fuel. They were focusing on their core products, so we think there is growth potential there especially internationally. That’s number one. Number two, it is a combination of our margins. It’s favorable in terms of the economics. In business, it’s not a very high margin business compared to our standard margin. By combining the margins, it makes it attractive. Those are the two main reasons, and the third reason is we think that we can expand our presence with a salesforce by hiring 25 more sales people that can do double duty. We can expand our sales force and sell some of our products in the critical care unit.
Mitra Ramgopal – Sidoti
How much of the growth are you really looking for in terms of just doing a better job with the existing base of customers you have in critical care versus pushing new product through Premier and MedAssets?
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