ICON Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2016 Results

DUBLIN–(BUSINESS WIRE)– ICON
plc (NASDAQ: ICLR), a global provider of drug
development solutions and services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology
and medical device industries, today reported its financial results for
the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2016.

In the fourth quarter net revenue grew 7.9% year on year to $435.1
million from $403.3 million in the same quarter in 2015. This
represented 8.4% constant currency growth and 4.2% constant dollar
organic growth year on year.

Income from operations in the quarter increased by 12.3% to $84.6
million, or 19.5% of revenue, compared to $75.3 million or 18.7% for the
same quarter in 2015.

Net income in the quarter increased by 17.1% to $74.3 million, or $1.33
per share, on a diluted basis, compared with $63.4 million or $1.11 per
share for the same quarter in 2015. The tax rate during the quarter
benefitted from a positive one off item resulting in a 9% effective
rate. This impacted EPS positively by circa 7 cent in the quarter.

Full year revenue increased by 5.8% to $1,666 million from $1,575
million in 2015. This represented 6.4% constant currency growth and 3.2%
constant dollar organic growth year on year.

Full year income from operations increased by 13.6% to $319.9 million,
or 19.2% of revenue, compared with $281.5 million or 17.9% of revenue in
the previous year.

Full year net income increased by 12.4% to $269.3 million, compared with
$239.5 million in 2015. Full year earnings per share increased by 19.8%
to a pro-forma $4.77 per share on a diluted basis, compared to $3.98 per
diluted share in 2015.

Day’s sales outstanding, comprising accounts receivable and unbilled
revenue less payments on account, were 50 days at December 31, 2016,
compared with 50 days at the end of September 2016 and 41 days at the
end of December 2015.

Cash generated from operating activities for the quarter was $123.5
million and $259.2 million for the full year. Capital expenditure for
the quarter was $13.3 million and $42.6 million for the full year.
During the quarter ICON spent $110 million on share repurchases. In
addition, $54 million was spent on acquisitions in 2016. As a result, at
December 31, 2016, the company had net debt of $88 million, compared to
net debt of $98 million at September 30, 2016 and net debt of $158
million at end of December 2015.

CEO, Ciaran Murray commented, “2016 was another good year for ICON.
We grew our backlog by 8% year on year to $4.2 billion, constant
currency revenues increased by 6.4% to $1.666 billion and we exited 2016
with an operating margin of 19.5%. This enabled us to grow EPS by 19.8%
year on year to $4.77. We expect 2017 to be another year of revenue and
earnings growth as we continue to build and diversify our customer base.”

In addition to the financial measures prepared in accordance with
generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), this press release
contains certain non-GAAP financial measures, including non-GAAP
operating and net income and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share. While
non-GAAP financial measures are not superior to or a substitute for the
comparable GAAP measures, ICON believes certain non-GAAP information is
useful to investors for historical comparison purposes.

ICON will hold its fourth quarter conference call today, February 16,
2017 at 9:00 EST [14:00 Ireland & UK]. This call and linked slide
presentation can be accessed live from our website at http://investor.iconplc.com.
A recording will also be available on the website for 90 days following
the call. In addition, a
calendar of company events, including upcoming conference
presentations, is available on our website, under “Investors”. This
calendar will be updated regularly.

This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements
are based on management’s current expectations and information currently
available, including current economic and industry conditions. These
statements are not guarantees of future performance or actual results,
and actual results, developments and business decisions may differ from
those stated in this press release. The forward-looking statements are
subject to future events, risks, uncertainties and other factors that
could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in
the statements, including, but not limited to, the ability to enter into
new contracts, maintain client relationships, manage the opening of new
offices and offering of new services, the integration of new business
mergers and acquisitions, as well as economic and global market
conditions and other risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time
in SEC reports filed by ICON, all of which are difficult to predict and
some of which are beyond our control. For these reasons, you should not
place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements when making
investment decisions. The word « expected » and variations of such words
and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking
statements. Forward-looking statements are only as of the date they are
made and we do not undertake any obligation to update publicly any
forward-looking statement, either as a result of new information, future
events or otherwise. More information about the risks and uncertainties
relating to these forward-looking statements may be found in SEC reports
filed by ICON, including its Form 20-F, F-1, S-8 and F-3, which are
available on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

ICON plc is a global provider of drug development solutions and services
to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries. The
company specialises in the strategic development, management and
analysis of programs that support clinical development – from compound
selection to Phase I-IV clinical studies. With headquarters in Dublin,
Ireland, ICON currently, operates from 87 locations in 38 countries and
has approximately 12,500 employees. Further information is available at www.iconplc.com.

ICON/ICLR-F

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170216005507/en/