Smith & Nephew ‘increasingly confident’ after strong start

Medical equipment manufacturer Smith & Nephew is ‘increasingly confident’ that it will beat revenue expectations this year after a strong start.

The company, which has a base in Hull, reported revenues of $1.2bn for the first quarter to 30 March 2019, up from $1.2bn the year before – a 4.4% increase on an underlying basis.

It said that all three of its global franchises had grown and delivered growth as they started to benefit from our new commercial model.

It said they were confident that underlying revenue growth will be in the upper half of the guidance range of 2.5% to 3.5%, whilst expected trading profit margin unchanged in the range of 22.8% to 23.2%.

Namal Nawana, chief executive officer, said: “It’s been a good start to 2019 across the whole of Smith & Nephew.

“All three global franchises delivered improved organic growth as we continued to improve execution; important confirmation that each has the potential to perform sustainably at or above their markets.

“At the same time, we’ve made well-judged acquisitions that bring in new technologies to strengthen leadership positions across the business, which we expect to further accelerate growth over time.

“While recognising that further work remains to achieve the full potential of our portfolio, we are encouraged with our progress towards sustainably delivering above-market growth.”