31st Jul 2019 08:55
(Alliance News) - FTSE 100-listed medical devices maker Smith & Nephew PLC boosted its dividend and annual guidance Wednesday after interim revenue and profit both expanded.
For the six months ended June, pretax profit widened 12% to USD383 million from USD341 million the year prior. This was after reported revenue rose 2.0% to USD2.49 billion from USD2.44 billion the year before, on an underlying basis revenue rose 3.9%.
"The positive momentum across the business globally in the first half of 2019 has led us to upgrade our full year revenue growth guidance," Smith & Nephew Chief Executive Officer Namal Nawana said.
Looking forward, Smith & Nephew now expects 2019 underlying revenue to grow between 3.0% and 4.0%. This is up from the 2.5% to 3.5% range previously forecast.
Trading profit margin expectations, however, have been retained at between 22.8% and 23.2%. In the first six months, the trading profit margin improved to 21.4% from 20.8% the year prior.
"Organic revenue growth has been solid across all three franchises, with strong performance in Emerging Markets and global Sports Medicine," Nawana continued. "At the same time, we expanded our margin."
Smith & Nephew proposed a 14.4 US cent interim dividend, up from 14.0 cents the year prior.
"We are delivering on our commitments to accelerate revenue growth, improve profitability and importantly make investments that support the long-term success of Smith & Nephew", Nawana added.
Shares in Smith & Nephew were 3.1% higher at 1,920.00 pence in London on Wednesday.
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