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Fitch said the revised Outlook is supported by the progress BostonScientific is making toward stabilizing its drug-eluting stent and cardiacrhythm management businesses, while paying down debt in the process. TheCompany has paid down $1.7 billion of debt during the past 12 months.
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Fitch added that it expects Boston Scientific's leverage will declinefurther in the intermediate term through increased cash flow growth and debtreduction.
"We welcome this revised outlook and see it as another indication that weare moving in the right direction in a number of key areas," said Sam Leno,Chief Financial Officer of Boston Scientific. "The Fitch action also confirmsthat our expense and head count reduction plan is being executed effectivelyand is helping strengthen our financial position."
Boston Scientific is a worldwide developer, manufacturer and marketer ofmedical devices whose products are used in a broad range of interventionalmedical specialties. For more information, please visit:www.bostonscientific.com.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaningof Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-lookingstatements may be identified by words like "anticipate," "expect," "project,""believe," "plan," "estimate," "intend" and similar words. Theseforward-looking statements are based on our beliefs, assumptions and estimatesusing information available to us at the time and are not intended to beguarantees of future events or performance. These forward-looking statementsinclude, among other things, statements regarding our financial performance,our programs to increase shareholder value, new product approvals, our expensereduction initiatives, our capital needs and expenditures, potentialacquisitions and divestitures, our debt repayment strategy, our operationalstrategy, our growth strategy, market recovery and our market position. Ifour underlying assumptions turn out to be incorrect, or if certain risks oruncertainties materialize, actual results could vary materially from theexpectations and projections expressed or implied by our forward-lookingstatements. These factors, in some cases, have affected and in the future(together with other factors) could affect our ability to implement ourbusiness strategy and may cause actual results to differ materially from thosecontemplated by the statements expressed in this press release. As a result,readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any of ourforward-looking statements.
Factors that may cause such differences include, among other things:future economic, competitive, reimbursement and regulatory conditions; newproduct introductions; demographic trends; intellectual property; litigation;financial market conditions; and, future business decisions made by us and ourcompetitors. All of these factors are difficult or impossible to predictaccurately and many of them are beyond our control. For a further list anddescription of these and other important risks and uncertainties that mayaffect our future operations, see Part I, Item 1A - Risk Factors in our mostrecent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and ExchangeCommission, which we may update in Part II, Item 1A - Risk Factors inQuarterly Reports on Form 10-Q we have filed or will file thereafter. Wedisclaim any intention or obligation to publicly update or revise anyforward-looking statements to reflect any change in our expectations or inevents, conditions, or circumstances on which those expectations may be based,or that may affect t
