Business Segments

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

Segment Reporting [Abstract]

Business Segments

Business Segments

The company operates in four primary business segments: North America/Home Medical Equipment (NA/HME), Institutional Products Group (IPG), Europe and Asia/Pacific.

The NA/HME segment sells each of three primary product lines, which includes: lifestyle, mobility and seating and respiratory therapy products. The Institutional Products Group sells or rents long-term care medical equipment, health care furnishings and accessory products. Europe and Asia/Pacific sell the same product lines as NA/HME and IPG. Each business segment sells to the home health care, retail and extended care markets.

The company evaluates performance and allocates resources based on profit or loss from operations before income taxes for each reportable segment. The accounting policies of each segment are the same as those described in the summary of significant accounting policies for the company’s consolidated financial statements. Intersegment sales and transfers are based on the costs to manufacture plus a reasonable profit element. Therefore, intercompany profit or loss on intersegment sales and transfers is not considered in evaluating segment performance except for Asia/Pacific due to its significant intercompany sales volume.

The information by segment is as follows (in thousands):

	2012			2011			2010
Revenues from external customers
North America/HME	$	693,285		$	746,782		$	738,441
Institutional Products Group	148,648			124,121			97,419
Europe	546,543			544,537			506,069
Asia/Pacific	66,985			86,199			82,635
Consolidated	$	1,455,461		$	1,501,639		$	1,424,564
Intersegment revenues
North America/HME	$	104,291		$	88,188		$	83,316
Institutional Products Group	7,041			6,567			5,571
Europe	11,043			9,308			10,165
Asia/Pacific	32,587			32,876			33,616
Consolidated	$	154,962		$	136,939		$	132,668
Depreciation and amortization
North America/HME	$	12,190		$	12,814		$	15,674
Institutional Products Group	8,312			4,942			1,995
Europe	12,738			15,799			13,620
Asia/Pacific	4,505			4,645			4,941
All Other (1)	273			212			191
Discontinued Operations	$	575		$	471		$	383
Consolidated	$	38,593		$	38,883		$	36,804
Net interest expense (income)
North America/HME	$	2,046		$	5,893		$	18,990
Institutional Products Group	4,378			2,729			530
Europe	(1,292		)	(1,754		)	721
Asia/Pacific	3,304			2,945			2,790
Consolidated	$	8,436		$	9,813		$	23,031
Earnings (loss) before income taxes from continuing operations
North America/HME	$	3,563		$	35,477		$	48,164
Institutional Products Group	11,029			12,378			9,130
Europe	31,488			33,579			39,344
Asia/Pacific	(11,795		)	(35,141		)	6,754
All Other (1)	(24,311		)	(55,431		)	(79,448		)
Consolidated	$	9,974		$	(9,138	)	$	23,944
Assets
North America/HME (2)	$	280,383		$	295,457		$	336,367
Institutional Products Group	118,190			117,626			67,506
Europe	683,751			689,596			660,620
Asia/Pacific (2)	39,605			50,604			92,322
All Other (1)	37,208			35,713			36,541
Discontinued Operations	103,157			92,058			87,044
Consolidated	$	1,262,294		$	1,281,054		$	1,280,400

	2012		2011		2010
Long-lived assets
North America/HME (2)	$	62,853	$	68,190	$	81,426
Institutional Products Group	93,184		95,010		49,291
Europe	493,446		518,382		510,728
Asia/Pacific (2)	8,034		10,896		52,565
All Other (1)	36,828		35,361		36,105
Discontinued Operations	—		24,445		24,126
Consolidated	$	694,345	$	752,284	$	754,241
Expenditures for assets
North America/HME	$	6,959	$	9,189	$	7,407
Institutional Products Group	5,517		3,612		2,663
Europe	4,604		4,876		4,448
Asia/Pacific	2,439		3,480		2,224
All Other (1)	—		214		207
Discontinued Operations	$	572	$	789	$	404
Consolidated	$	20,091	$	22,160	$	17,353

  ________________________

(1) Consists of un-allocated corporate SG&A costs and intercompany profits, which do not meet the quantitative criteria for determining reportable segments. In addition, the “All Other” earnings (loss) before income taxes includes loss on debt extinguishment including debt finance charges, interest and fees and impairment charges recognized related to limited partnership investments.

(2) IPG and NA/HME assets and long-lived assets included decreases of $677,000 and $96,000 due to intangible asset impairment write-offs in 2012. The 2011 Asia/Pacific assets and long-lived assets decrease includes decreases of 39,729,000 and $201,000 due to goodwill and intangible asset write-offs, respectively. NA/HME assets and long-lived assets included decreases of $7,990,000 and $508,000 due to the goodwill and intangible asset impairment write-offs, respectively, in 2011. The 2011 IPG assets and long-lived assets decrease includes a decrease of $1,052,000 related to intangible asset impairment write-offs in 2011.

Net sales by product, are as follows (in thousands):

	2012		2011		2010
North America/HME
Lifestyle Products	$	288,443	$	295,342	$	297,888
Mobility and Seating	257,886		284,633		294,792
Respiratory Therapy	134,892		153,468		131,260
Other(1)	12,064		13,339		14,501
	$	693,285	$	746,782	$	738,441
Institutional Products Group
Continuing Care	$	148,648	$	124,121	$	97,419
Europe
Lifestyle Products	$	285,707	$	293,425	$	289,577
Mobility and Seating	204,613		209,732		183,271
Respiratory Therapy	42,700		27,866		20,493
Other(1)	13,523		13,514		12,728
	$	546,543	$	544,537	$	506,069
Asia/Pacific
Mobility and Seating	$	31,410	$	36,483	$	38,226
Lifestyle Products	15,448		20,151		21,216
Continuing Care	2,795		2,825		2,700
Respiratory Therapy	700		682		1,021
Other(1)	16,632		26,058		19,472
	$	66,985	$	86,199	$	82,635
Total Consolidated	$	1,455,461	$	1,501,639	$	1,424,564

  ________________________

(1) Includes various services, including repair services, equipment rentals and external contracting.

No single customer accounted for more than 3.9% of the company’s sales.