Segment Reporting

6 Months Ended

Oct. 29, 2011

Segment Reporting [Abstract]

Segment Reporting

NOTE 6 SEGMENT REPORTING

Patterson Companies, Inc. is comprised of three reportable segments: dental, veterinary, and rehabilitation supply. The Company's reportable business segments are strategic business units that offer similar products and services to different customer bases. The dental supply segment provides a virtually complete range of consumable dental products, clinical and laboratory equipment and value-added services to dentists, dental laboratories, institutions and other dental healthcare providers throughout North America. The veterinary supply segment provides consumable supplies, equipment, diagnostic products, biologicals (vaccines) and pharmaceuticals to companion-pet veterinary clinics in the majority of regions throughout the United States. The rehabilitation supply segment provides a comprehensive range of distributed and self-manufactured rehabilitation medical supplies and non-wheelchair assistive products to acute care hospitals, long-term care facilities, rehabilitation clinics, dealers and schools.

The accounting policies of the segments are the same as those described in the summary of significant accounting policies set forth in Note 1 to the consolidated financial statements included in the Company's 2011 Annual Report on Form 10-K filed June 29, 2011. The Company evaluates segment performance based on operating income. The corporate office general and administrative expenses are included in the dental supply segment and consist of home office support costs in areas such as informational technology, finance, human resources and facilities. The cost to operate the distribution centers are allocated to the business segments based on the through-put of each segment.

The following table presents information about the Company's reportable segments:

	Three Months Ended				Six Months Ended
	October 29,		October 30,		October 29,		October 30,
	2011		2010		2011		2010
Net sales
Dental supply	$	550,605	$	563,210	$	1,083,972	$	1,105,888
Rehabilitation supply		133,570		132,626		268,022		260,100
Veterinary supply		172,700		161,578		352,303		341,213
Consolidated net sales	$	856,875	$	857,414	$	1,704,297	$	1,707,201
Operating income
Dental supply	$	56,408	$	63,589	$	109,869	$	124,552
Rehabilitation supply		18,807		18,302		36,577		35,535
Veterinary supply		8,044		8,261		18,806		19,089
Consolidated operating income	$	83,259	$	90,152	$	165,252	$	179,176

The following table presents sales information by product for the Company:

	Three Months Ended				Six Months Ended
	October 29,		October 30,		October 29,		October 30,
	2011		2010		2011		2010
Net sales
Consumable and printed products	$	569,972	$	547,332	$	1,144,934	$	1,133,935
Equipment and software		214,025		243,557		413,676		435,778
Other		72,878		66,525		145,687		137,488
Total	$	856,875	$	857,414	$	1,704,297	$	1,707,201