Smith & Nephew (NYSE:SNN) today said it expects its margins to shrink by 1.2% this year due to the strong dollar despite a forecast for top-line growth.
Europe’s largest maker of artificial hips and knees posted 4th-quarter revenues of $1.26 billion, up 0.6% compared with Q4 2014. Smith & Nephew no longer reports quarterly profit or earnings numbers.
Full-year profits were down -18.2% to $410 million, or 45.9¢ per share, on sales growth of 0.4% to $4.63 billion. Adjusted EPS were 85.1¢, well below the $1.61 consensus forecast on Wall Street, where analysts were looking for sales of $4.61 billion.
“The group finished 2015 strongly, led by an excellent quarter in the U.S. across sports medicine, knee implants and our advanced wound management businesses. At the same time, we successfully continued to grow our businesses in Europe and the emerging markets,” said CEO Olivier Bohuon, who earlier this week revealed a diagnosis of a highly treatable type of cancer. “For the full year we delivered higher underlying revenue growth, trading profit margin and adjusted earnings year-on-year. Our strategy is producing an improved performance through focused innovation, better commercial execution and greater efficiency.
“We expect to deliver continued good underlying revenue growth in 2016 as we benefit from our investments in existing businesses, acquisitions and pioneering technologies,” Bohuon said in prepared remarks.
Smith & Nephew also said it settled most of the U.S. product liability lawsuits filed over its discontinued metal-on-metal hip implants, with insurance covering more than half of the tab for a net cash cost of $25 million. The company took a $203 million charge to cover that cost and that of settling any future claims.
SNN shares were down -2.1% to $32.38 apiece in pre-market trading today. SN shares were down -1.5% on the London exchange, to 1,099 pence as of about 2 p.m. GMT.