Moody's may raise Millipore

Moody's Investors Service said it placed the Ba1 corporate rating and the Ba1 rating on the $100 million 7½% senior unsecured notes due 2007 of Millipore Corp. under review for possible upgrade, reflecting an improvement in the company's financial flexibility over the past two years.

The agency noted that free cash flow from operations expanded to over $100 million at the end of 2004 from $28 million at the end of 2002. During the same period, total outstanding debt has declined to $147 million from $334 million; total outstanding debt at the end of September 2005 was $100 million.

Since Moody's anticipates that the company will generate at least $165 million in operating cash flow in 2005, the free cash flow to adjusted debt ratio will expand to 25% at the end of the year, up from a 13% ratio at the end of 2003.

Further, despite an accelerated pace of acquisitions, Moody's anticipates that the company's credit metrics will continue to improve based on solid growth in the core business and higher free cash flow over the next few years.

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