Tariff uncertainty fails to dent confidence at med tech group

Hull-based med tech group, Smith+Nephew, has recorded a positive start to 2025 despite continued headwinds from China and the anticipated impact of US tariffs.

In a trading update for the first quarter ended 29 March 2025, the group reports revenues of $1.4bn/£1bn, with underlying revenue growth of 3.1 per cent, and reported revenue growth of 1.6 per cent.

It says growth was driven by operational improvements and recent product launches.

Deepak Nath, chief executive officer, said: “We have delivered a good start to the year with the operational improvements delivered through the 12-Point Plan driving growth across our portfolio.

“Key platforms, such as CORI^◊, EVOS^◊, REGENETEN^◊ and our Negative Pressure Wound Therapy portfolio all delivered strong double-digit growth in the quarter, and we are maintaining our high pace of innovation with a further wave of product launches this year.

“Headwinds from China remained an offsetting factor, but we believe have now passed their peak impact.

“While uncertainties exist around the imposition of tariffs, we remain confident in our outlook for another year of strong revenue growth and a significant step-up in trading profit margin.”

The group’s underlying revenue growth for 2025 is expected to be around five per cent (reported growth 5.4 per cent).

But Smith+Nephew’s outlook includes an expected net impact of $15m/£11.2m to $20m/£15m from tariffs in 2025.

Just over half of the group’s revenues are in the US and two thirds of the products it sells within the US are manufactured in-market. The group’s other manufacturing sites are in Costa Rica, UK, Malaysia, China and Switzerland.

Smith+Nephew says it is working to mitigate tariff impacts from products and raw materials imported into the US, which includes leveraging its global manufacturing network in terms of mix and supply routes.