Smith+Nephew lifts annual revenue guidance

Medical products maker Smith+Nephew on Thursday lifted its full-year revenue outlook as first-half results were boosted by outperformance in its sports medicine and advanced wound management divisions.

The company said it now expected full-year underlying revenue growth of 6-7%, compared with previous forecast range of 5-6%.

It added that chief financial officer Anne-Françoise Nesmes would step down in the second quarter of 2024.

First-half revenue rose to $2.7bn from $2.6bn. Operating profit rose to $275m compared with $242m a year earlier.

Trading profit of rose to $417m from $440m with margins down to 15.3%, compared with 16.9%, reflecting expected seasonality and higher input inflation, transactional foreign exchange and increased sales and marketing to drive growth, the company said.

"Margin development in the first half was in line with our expectations. In the second half, we expect a clear step up in both trading margin and cash generation as we begin to see the benefit of productivity gains and start bringing down inventory levels," said chief executive Deepak Nath.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com