(Reuters) — Fresenius (NYSE:FMS) set out new targets for 2020 today, aiming for double-digit annual gains in sales and net income.
Sales will grow to between €43 billion and €47 billion ($45.3 billion to $49.5 billion) by 2020, from €29.1 billion in 2016, which is an average annual growth rate of 11.2% at the midpoint of the forecast range, it said.
Net income will increase to between €2.4 billion and €2.7 billion, from €1.59 billion last year, up 13.1% per year on average.
The German renal care giant posted profits of $388 million, or $1.27 per share, on sales of $4.69 billion for the 3 months ended Dec. 31, for a bottom-line gain of 22.4% on sales growth of 7.8% compared with Q4 2015. Adjusted to exclude 1-time items, earnings per share were 63¢, a penny ahead of expectations on Wall Street, where analysts were looking for sales of $4.74 billion.
Full-year profits were $1.24 billion, or $4.07 per share, on sales of $17.91 billion, for profit growth of 20.8% on a top-line gain of 7.0%, compared with 2015. Adjusted EPS came in at $2.03, dead even with The Street, where the consensus sales forecast was $17.97 billion.
“The company’s prospects are excellent, and in the coming years Fresenius is targeting continued, dynamic growth,” CEO Stephan Sturm, the former finance chief who took the helm in July last year, said in a statement.
The group, which controls Fresenius Medical Care (FMC) , the world’s largest kidney dialysis provider, raised its dividend for a 24th consecutive year, broadly meeting analyst forecasts with a €0.62-per-share payout for 2016.
FMC stuck with 2020 targets for revenue of €24 billion, with an average annual increase of about 10%, and high single-digit percentage growth in annual net income.
FMC said it expected net income growth to slow to between 7% and 9% in 2017, after a 21% jump last year. Analysts in a Reuters poll had on average forecast an 11% rise in net income this year.
FMS shares were up 1.3% to $41.69 in pre-market trading today.
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