DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 
 

Becton Dickinson & Co.'s (BDX) fiscal second-quarter net income fell 5.4% on a antitrust settlement as the medical-products maker saw broad sales gains, excluding currency fluctuations.

The company has so far been largely immune from the recession and concerns about hospital-spending cutbacks. Many of Becton's products are basic items and essentials such as surgical blades and catheters,

The lawsuit settlement, reached Monday but disclosed Tuesday, relates to five separate antitrust class-action lawsuits filed in 2005 involving medical-product distributors. The deal with the direct-purchaser plaintiffs in the cases calls for Becton to pay $45 million into a settlement fund. A settlement with so-called indirect purchasers hasn't been reached.

Meanwhile, the company posted net income of $261.3 million, or $1.06 a share, down from $276.2 million, or $1.09 a share, a year earlier. Absent the settlement, earnings for the quarter ended March 31 would have been $1.18 a share.

Revenue dipped 0.4% to $1.74 billion. Excluding the stronger dollar, sales would have risen about 3%.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $1.16 on revenue of $1.76 billion.

Gross margin rose to 51.9% from 51.1%, but net income fell because of a 6% rise in overhead costs and 2.6% increase in research-and-development spending.

U.S. revenue fell 1%, and international sales, which represent more than half of the company's revenue, were flat, hurt six percentage points by the stronger dollar.

Shares of Becton, which reiterated its fiscal-year earnings target, closed Monday at $64.89 and were inactive premarket.

-By Kerry E. Grace, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5089; kerry.grace@dowjones.com

By Kevin Kingsbury, Dow Jones Newswires; 201 938-2136;

kevin.kingsbury@dowjones.com