Illumina sees Q3 rev below Street view; shares fall

(Reuters) - Illumina Inc (ILMN.O) forecast third-quarter revenue below market view, mainly on continued uncertainty related to levels of research funding in the United States and Europe.

Shares of the company, which also suspended its prior full-year outlook, were down 23 percent at $30.75 in after-market trade.

The maker of tools for genetic analysis said the uncertainty has resulted in purchasing delays for both instruments and consumables, particularly among large volume centers.

"We expect these conditions to continue through at least the fourth quarter, while the 2012-2013 U.S. budgets for NIH (National Institutes of Health) and other related agencies are determined," Chief Executive Jay Flatley said in a statement.

Companies such as Illumina, Affymetrix (AFFX.O) and Life Technologies (LIFE.O) get 20-40 percent of their revenue from U.S. government-backed research and could be hurt by a budget squeeze.

Affymetrix shares were down 8 percent at $5.25, while those of Life were down 6 percent at $36.90 in extended trading.

Illumina said it expects to post revenue of about $235 million for the third quarter. Analysts on average were expecting $278 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company said the revenue was also affected by excess of sequencing capacity in the market.

"The launch of the V3 sequencing kits in the second-quarter created excess capacity that customers were unable to fully utilize," the company said in a statement.

However, the company expects revenue for the fourth quarter to be higher than the third quarter.

(Reporting by Shailesh Kuber in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel)