Mr. Cross: dj Orthopedics is a novel orthopedics company. We estimate today that we are the 12th or so largest orthopedic company in the world and we are the only orthopedic company in the world that focuses on non- operative products for orthopedics and spinal medicine. We are the dominant franchise in this space; the market that we serve is about 1.6 billion market. Based on our pro forma 2003 revenue of 240 million, we have roughly 15% market share in that and, as I say, we are the only orthopedic company of this size focused exclusively on non-operative or said in another way, non-surgical products. So the products that we develop and market are focused on rehabilitation after injury or surgery, prevention of injury, post-surgical pain management and the regeneration of bone after injury or after spinal surgery. So we are in the rehabilitation and the regeneration areas of orthopedics. The company was founded here in San Diego in the late 1970s and was acquired by Smith & Nephew, which is a global medical device company in the mid-1980s and was run as a successful division of that business for a number of years. In 1999, myself and some of the other management team together with J.P. Morgan Partners, the largest private equity group in the world, purchased the business from Smith & Nephew for around 200 million. Our revenue at that time was roughly 100 million, and since that time, we have been growing it as a stand-alone business. The guidance we've given to the Street this year is that our revenues would be approximately 260 million. So you can see since we acquired the business, we've been quite successful in growing the business, but stayed focused on our mission of being a non-operative orthopedic and spinal medicine company.
Tickers included in this excerpt: DJO
For more information call (212) 952 7433. The Wall Street Transcript does not endorse any of the comments made by interviewees, and does not make stock recommendations.

