Smith & Nephew unveils 12% growth
Smith & Nephew has reported an underlying growth of 12% as they announced their interim results to 20 June 2001.
Smith & Nephew has reported an underlying growth of 12% as they announced their interim results to 20 June 2001.
Following a three-year restructuring, the bullish healthcare company reported a turnover from ongoing operations of £488.8m compared to £404m for the same period last year.
But the company also saw its bottom line drop, with pre-tax profits of £82.4m compared to £91.3m last year.
The company said the drop was due to its divestment programme, completed during the period, in which it sold 40% of its original business.
But it added that, discounting the divestments and including the acquisition, the company was maintaining its growth momentum. Smith & Nephew explained this growth was due to a favourable market and the strength of its product.
Chairman Dudley Eustace said: We remain confident in our aim of achieving underlying mid-teens [earnings per share] growth for the three years from 2002.
The company’s shares gained on the news, trading at 360p in the late afternoon, up 3p on yesterday’s close.
Unlike other medical technology companies on the stock exchange, Smith & Nephew has seen its share price increase at the beginning of the year.
The company has recently been involved in eTrauma.com, an online interactive resource for the orthopaedic community. On the strength of this performance, Smith & Nephew was admitted to the FTSE-100 benchmark index in July.
Finance director Peter Hooley has been particularly busy lately as Smith & Nephew has been involved in the acquisition of a US woundcare technology licence and a North American wounds dressing business. It also disposed of its ear, nose and throat business, signed a joint venture with German company Bereisdorf, and a logistics agreement with supply chain management group Excel.
The chartered accountant has been with the company since April 1991.
Previously, Hooley worked in the finance departments of BICC and Matthew Hall.
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