Revenues bounce back at medtech group as markets recover

Medtech business, Surgical Innovations, says it has managed a resilient performance despite the ongoing effects of the pandemic as it releases its audited results for the year ended 31 December 2021.

Revenues increased by 44% in 2021 to £9.13m (2020: £6.33m), amounting to 85% of the comparable pre-pandemic period in 2019 (£10.73m).

The Leeds-based group made an adjusted EBITDA profit of £0.50m (2020: loss of £0.66m, 2019: £ 1.45m) and an adjusted operating loss before tax of £0.33m (2020: loss of £1.61m, 2019: £0.38m).

Chairman, Nigel Rogers, said: “Trading in the first two months of the current year is approximately 40% higher than the corresponding periods of 2021 and slightly ahead of pre-pandemic levels of 2019. This would indicate a more normalised level of trading for the rest of the year with the return of elective surgery.

“Despite the Omicron Covid-19 variant causing healthcare staff shortages in some markets, the impact has been less severe than anticipated.

“The UK market continues to be strong and is trending ahead of pre-pandemic levels and, as patient waiting lists continue to rise, it is likely that this momentum will continue. Demand in the European and the Rest of the World markets is steadily increasing but remains more muted.

“However, both the US and APAC markets continue to grow significantly ahead of pre-pandemic levels.”

Surgical Innovations says it anticipates further progress from the adoption of its Resposable ™ technology, which has been designed to cut waste and costs in elective surgery.

And it is leveraging strong relationships with major commercial partners for greater product penetration and access to innovative developments such as robotic surgery.

CEO David Marsh said: “Over the last couple of years we’ve evolved the business so it’s in a much stronger position to take advantage as life returns to normality and we’re beginning to see the benefits of that.

“We’ve done a lot of internal restructuring in our manufacturing facility and are now seeing some really strong sales on the back of that.”

Commenting on the problems caused by the pandemic, he said the group had to contend with repeated interruptions to its momentum with each wave of the virus, which had been difficult to handle in terms of both manufacturing processes and product evaluations.

“We’re now seeing challenges around the supply chain, both in terms of logistics costs and increasing costs of raw materials,” he said.

“Every company we speak to has the same sort of problems. We also have regulatory challenges, with the bar being raised all the time. With regulatory matters it’s not an optional thing for us.”

He said despite this tough environment the group is investing in its sales and marketing teams to take advantage of pent-up demand. And it is also investing in its manufacturing operation.

“From a financial perspective we’ve managed the business effectively and as we go forward we genuinely believe 2022 will be a good year for us,” he said.

“We’ve got a lot of exciting opportunities in the US with new product development and we’re opening up some new markets.”