Discontinued Operations

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2012

Discontinued Operations [Abstract]

Discontinued Operations, Disclosure [Text Block]

Note 14.       Discontinued Operations

On June 22, 2012, in an effort to exit a non-core business, the company's senior management made a decision to pursue a sale of its laboratory workstations business, part of the Laboratory Products and Services segment. The company expects to complete such a transaction by June 2013. The results of the laboratory workstations business have been classified and presented as discontinued operations in the accompanying financial statements. Prior period results have been adjusted to conform to this presentation. A product line with annual revenues of approximately $4 million that was reported within the laboratory workstations business in 2011 will be retained and is now reported in the Specialty Diagnostics segment.

       For 2011, the laboratory workstations business had revenues of approximately $180 million, and an operating loss of approximately $6 million. In the second quarter of 2012, the company recorded an after tax charge of $51 million as the estimated loss on the planned divestiture. Future revisions to the estimated loss on sale may be required depending on the actual or expected proceeds from a sale transaction.

       Operating results of the laboratory workstations business were as follows:

	Three Months Ended					Six Months Ended
	June 30,		July 2,			June 30,		July 2,
(In millions)	2012			2011		2012			2011
Revenues	$	46.4		$	46.8	$	94.3		$	87.7
Pre-tax Income (Loss)		(12.4)			0.8		(18.5)			0.3

On April 4, 2011, the company sold two businesses (Note 2). The results of both businesses have been included in the accompanying financial statements as discontinued operations.