Profits are down for a Florida-based company that recently purchased Home Oxygen 2-U’s call-center operation in North Lawrence.

Lincare Holdings Inc., of Clearwater, Fla., confirmed Tuesday that it had closed its purchase of certain assets of Home Oxygen 2-U, the provider of home-oxygen equipment and other respiratory-care products. Home Oxygen recently laid off dozens of employees at its call center in the I-70 Business Center, which handles incoming calls generated by cable-TV ads.

Lincare uses such acquisitions to help absorb declining revenues from Medicare. The federal program recently cut the prices it pays for home-oxygen equipment, a factor Lincare cited in reporting a 13 percent decline in profits for the company’s first quarter.

Joe Grillo, a Lincare spokesman, declined to comment Tuesday on the Home Oxygen 2-U purchase, beyond confirming that it had occurred.

But Lincare officials noted, in commentary with its quarterly financials, that the company had acquired six companies with annual revenues of $25 million during the first three months of this year. Of the 21 locations added during the quarter, 10 came through acquisitions.

As of March 31, Lincare had 825 locations.

“We are well positioned to absorb the significant reductions in Medicare pricing for our services in 2005,” said John Byrnes, Lincare’s chief executive officer, in a statement. “Our operating centers experienced strong customer growth in the first quarter and our acquisition program is off to a good start in 2005.”

Lincare’s acquisition of Home Oxygen 2-U closed this month, and therefore would be expected to be included in Lincare’s financial report for the second quarter.

For the first quarter, Lincare earned $54.6 million, or 51 cents per share. That was down from $62.9 million, or 60 cents per share, in the first three months of 2004. Revenues dropped to $305.2 million from $306.9 million.