Natick-based Boston Scientific Corp. eked out a $236-million profit during the fourth quarter, despite a decrease in revenues.
However, the results for the full year were less rosy. The medical device maker reported a $1-billion loss for 2010, only slightly better than the loss for 2009.
Net sales for the quarter totaled $2 billion, down 3.7 percent from the fourth quarter of 2009. For the year, net sales were down 4.7 percent.
Boston Scientific is in the midst of restructuring. It has acquired for companies and sold off its neurovascular business. Ray Elliott, the company’s president and CEO, said in a press release that the sale of the neurovascular business has provided the company “with increased flexibility to fund acquisitions and pay down debt.”
Elliott was careful not to be too optimistic about the coming year, saying that he expects 2011 will be “a difficult but necessary transition year in part driven by a worsening pricing environment and uncertainty in procedural volumes.”
