Varian Medical Systems said it expects to report that total net orders in the Q2 fiscal year 2007 to have grown by 12 percent over the year-ago quarter to nearly $480 million, with two percent growth in Oncology Systems and solid growth in all other businesses. The numbers include orders generated in the quarter by the newly acquired ACCEL Instruments business. The company will report final Q2 results on April 25.

"For the second quarter Oncology Systems should have 19 percent growth in international orders and a 10 percent decline in North America – an unpredicted reversal of what occurred in the first quarter when we had strong North American business and delays in international orders," said Tim Guertin, president and CEO of Varian Medical Systems. "We are experiencing greater variability in the length of our sales cycles caused by bigger deal sizes for more sophisticated equipment and more complex customer decision processes."

Compared to the Q2 fiscal 2006, net orders for the company's security and inspection business are expected to rise by more than 225 percent, and Varian's X-Ray Products business should have an estimated 16 percent increase in net orders, driven largely by demand for flat panel image detectors for filmless x-ray imaging.

The company expects to report $22 million in net orders in the quarter for proton therapy and instrumentation products received subsequent to the ACCEL acquisition.

Including consolidation of approximately $47 million in acquired backlog from ACCEL, the company estimates total orders for Q2 should increase 23 percent and the quarter-ending backlog should increase 19 percent from the year ago period.

Second quarter revenues should increase by about seven percent.