AmerisourceBergen re-elects three board members, reaffirms fiscal 2010 outlook

PHILADELPHIA AmerisourceBergen stockholders re-elected three members of its board of directors during the pharmaceutical services company's annual meeting held Friday.

Richard Gochnauer, Edward Hagenlocker and Henry McGee were confirmed as independent directors at the company. Gochnauer has been a board member at the company for nearly two years and is the president and CEO of United Stationers Inc. Hagenlocker, who has been a member of the board since the company's inception, was director of AmeriSource Health for two years. McGee, a 6-year member of the board, has been president of HBO Home Entertainment since 1995.

The AmerisourceBergen board of directors is comprised of eight members, all of whom are independent directors, except president and CEO David Yost.

At the annual meeting, the company also reaffirmed its expectations for fiscal year 2010, stating that it expects its profits to be 12% to 17% higher than fiscal year 2009, with earnings per share ranging from $1.89 to $1.98. Earnings per share in 2009 totaled $1.69.

"Also unchanged are our key assumptions supporting this diluted earnings per share range, which are: revenue growth of between 7% and 8%; operating margin expansion in the low to mid single digit basis point range; and free cash flow in the range of $500 million to $575 million, which includes capital expenditures in the $140 million range," Yost said. "Assumptions also include the expected repurchase of approximately $350 million of AmerisourceBergen common shares in fiscal 2010."