DHR Announces Record Third Quarter Results

WASHINGTON, D.C., October 18, 2007 -- Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) announced today that net earnings from continuing operations for the quarter ended September 28, 2007 were $335 million, or $1.03 per diluted share, an increase of 26% compared with $264 million or $0.82 per share for the third quarter of 2006. The Company’s tax rate for the quarter was 23.6% which benefited from a more favorable mix of US and non-US earnings as well as certain discrete tax benefits within the quarter. The positive impact of this lower tax rate as compared to the Company’s expected tax rate of 27% was approximately $0.05 per share in the 2007 third quarter of which $0.02 per share relates to discrete tax matters in the quarter and $0.03 per share relates to a lower overall effective tax rate . Earnings per share including discontinued operations were $1.48 per share which includes the previously announced gain on the sale of the Company’s Power Quality businesses.

Attached is a reconciliation of adjusted diluted net earnings per share to diluted net earnings per share calculated according to GAAP, for the three and nine month periods ended September 28, 2007 and the comparable prior year periods.

Sales for the 2007 third quarter were $2.7 billion, 13.5% higher than the $2.4 billion reported for the 2006 third quarter.

Net earnings from continuing operations for the first nine months of 2007 were $894 million, or $2.75 per diluted share, compared with $789 million, or $2.45 per diluted share for the first nine months of 2006, an increase of 13%. Included in the diluted net earnings per share for the first nine months is approximately $0.02 per share related to the collection of indemnification proceeds related to a litigation matter in the second quarter of 2007. Absent this item, and absent the $0.03 per share gain related to the sale of an interest in First Technology PLC, certain tax reserve reductions of approximately $0.16 per share that both occurred in the first half of 2006, and the discrete tax benefit recorded in the third quarter of 2007 noted above, adjusted diluted net earnings per share for the first nine months of 2007 increased 21% over the comparable year to date 2006 measure. For the first nine months of 2007, earnings per share including discontinued operations were $3.22.

Sales for the first nine months of 2007 were $7.9 billion compared to $6.8 billion for the first nine months of 2006, an increase of 15.5%.

H. Lawrence Culp, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "We are very pleased to announce a record third quarter and as expected we delivered sequential and year-over-year revenue growth and operating margin expansion as we continued to see strength across most of our businesses. We are making significant progress in both our core businesses, which grew 5% in the quarter, as well as our recently acquired businesses, where growth and cost savings initiatives continue to gain traction. We believe our businesses and end markets remain healthy and our outlook for the remainder of 2007 continues to be positive.”

Danaher Corporation is a leading manufacturer of Professional Instrumentation, Medical Technologies, Industrial Technologies, and Tools and Components (www.danaher.com).

Statements in this release that are not strictly historical, including statements regarding expectations for the balance of 2007 and any other statements regarding events or developments that we believe or anticipate will or may occur in the future, may be "forward-looking" statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual events to differ materially from those suggested or indicated by such forward-looking statements. These factors include, among other things, competition, our ability to develop and successfully market new products and technologies, our ability to expand our business in new geographic markets, our ability to identify, consummate and integrate appropriate acquisitions, litigation and other contingent liabilities including intellectual property matters, our compliance with applicable laws and regulations, our ability to achieve projected efficiencies, cost reductions, sales growth and earnings, economic conditions in the end-markets we sell into, commodity costs and surcharges, currency exchange rates, tax audits, and general domestic and international economic conditions. Additional information regarding the factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements is available in our SEC filings, including our 2006 Annual Report on Form 10-K and Third Quarter 2007 Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release and the Company does not intend to update any forward-looking statement.