Smith & Nephew spies recovery despite falling sales
Medical technology firm Smith & Nephew said it expects to slowly recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, as revenue fell in line with earlier expectations.
Sales for the second quarter were down 29 per cent overall. However across the period, it reported underlying revenue declines of 47 per cent in April, 27 per cent in May, and around 12 per cent in June — indicating that its fortunes are turning around.
“Performance was correlated strongly with the easing of lockdown restrictions and resumption of elective surgeries,” the company said.
“Nevertheless, there continues to be significant uncertainty and geographical variation.”
The impact of the pandemic was most pronounced on its orthopaedic reconstruction, sports medicine and ear, nose and throat businesses, driven by those lower levels of non-essential surgery.
Smith & Nephew said it continues to expect that its trading margin for the first half of the year will be “substantially down” on the prior year.
It will provide a more detailed financial update and information on cost-cutting measures when it reports its half-year results at the end of July.
Shares in the firm spiked as markets opened this morning, before settling at a gain of around 2.4 per cent.