Lower margins for Smith & Nephew’s (NYSE:SNN) bread-and-butter orthopedics division drove the British company’s third-quarter profits down nearly 3 percent for the three months ended Oct. 1.
Smith & Nephew posted profits of $133 million, or 14.9 cents per share, on sales of $1.03 billion for the quarter – a top-line increase of 9.7 percent when compared with the $941 million in revenues reported for the same period last year. But Q3 2010 profits were $137 million, or 15.4 cents per share.