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Smith & Nephew PLC on Thursday maintained its dividend, as it said that its investment in innovation has delivered revenue growth across all regions. The Watford, England-based medical technology company said pretax profit rose by 20% to $253 million in the half-year that ended June 29 from $211 million a year before, as trading profit jumped 13% to $471 million from $417 million. Revenue increased 3.4% to $2.83 billion from $2.73 billion, while cost of goods sold grew just 2.0% to $853 million from $836 million. Selling, general, and administrative expenses rose 3.6% to $1.51 billion from $1.46 billion, but research & development costs were reduced by 17% to $137 million from $166 million. The company maintained a 14.4 US cent per share interim dividend. Chief Executive Officer Deepak Nath said: ‘Across the majority of Orthopaedics, which was our underperforming business unit, we are now consistently achieving growth rates well above historical levels. The methods we employed in achieving these successes give me confidence that we will also turn around US Hip and Knee Implants and we expect to see a step up through the second half of the year. ‘Our investment in innovation continues to deliver. In the first half of 2024, we delivered several major launches and product enhancements...Our progress is also showing through in our double-digit trading profit growth and margin expansion, driven by positive operating leverage and efficiency initiatives.’ Underlying revenue growth in Established Markets and Other Established Markets rose 4.8% and 6.9% respectively. The US Market and Emerging Markets delivered 3.6% and 9.5% growth, while strong double-digit growth was achieved across the Middle East, India, and Latin America. Full-year guidance remains unchanged, with underlying revenue growth expected in the range of 5.0% to 6.0% Trading profit margin is forecast to be at least 18.0%, up from 17.5% achieved in 2023. Smith & Nephew shares were up 6.1% to 1,191.00 pence each in London on Thursday morning. Copyright 2024 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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