Cardinal Health (CAH) has reported an 1.30 percent fall in profit for the quarter ended Mar. 31, 2017. The company has earned $381 million, or $1.20 a share in the quarter, compared with $386 million, or $1.17 a share for the same period last year. On the other hand, adjusted net income for the quarter stood at $485 million, or $1.53 a share compared with $472 million or $1.43 a share, a year ago.

Revenue during the quarter grew 3.78 percent to $31,821 million from $30,662 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter contracted 8 basis points over the previous year period to 5.43 percent. Total expenses were 98.10 percent of quarterly revenues, up from 97.86 percent for the same period last year. That has resulted in a contraction of 24 basis points in operating margin to 1.90 percent.

Operating income for the quarter was $605 million, compared with $656 million in the previous year period.

However, the adjusted operating income for the quarter stood at $759 million compared to $788 million in the prior year period. At the same time, adjusted operating margin contracted 18 basis points in the quarter to 2.39 percent from 2.57 percent in the last year period.

"The third quarter came in largely as we expected, in a dynamic market environment, as we noted a few weeks ago," said George S. Barrett, chairman and chief executive officer of Cardinal Health. "Many of our lines of business continue to perform well, particularly naviHealth, our medical/surgical consumables lines, and our Specialty Solutions group. We are also extremely excited about our recent announcement to acquire Medtronic's Patient Care, Deep Vein Thrombosis and Nutritional Insufficiency businesses. These product lines are natural extensions to the work that we're doing across the continuum of care from acute care, to surgery centers, to long-term care, into the retail setting and even to the consumer."

For fiscal year 2017, the company expects diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $5.35 to $5.50 on adjusted basis.

Cardinal Health has generated cash of $460 million from operating activities during the nine month period, down 80.26 percent or $1,870 million, when compared with the last year period.

The company has spent $429 million cash to meet investing activities during the nine month period as against cash outgo of $3,681 million in the last year period.

The company has spent $1,014 million cash to carry out financing activities during the nine month period as against cash outgo of $660 million in the last year period.

Cash and cash equivalents stood at $1,368 million as on Mar. 31, 2017, down 47.34 percent or $1,230 million from $2,598 million on Mar. 31, 2016.