1st Jul 2020 08:43
(Alliance News) - Smith & Nephew PLC on Tuesday said it expects its trading margin for its first half of 2020 to be substantially lower than 2019 due to the negative impact of Covid-19 as it announced a start date for its new chief financial officer.
The FTSE 100-listed medical technology business said it expects a second-quarter underlying revenue decline of around 29%. While performance has improved as the quarter progressed - with the year-on-year underlying revenue decline in June of 12% improving from a 27% decline in May and a 47% decline in April - the company said there continues to be significant uncertainty and geographical variation.
Smith & Nephew said the damage from the pandemic was most pronounced in its orthopaedic reconstruction, sports medicine and ENT businesses, caused by less elective surgery in the quarter as hospitals focused on Covid-19 patients. Its noted that its advanced wound management and trauma businesses have been more resilient.
Separately, the Watford-based company announced a start date for its newly hired chief financial officer, Anne-Francoise Nesmes. In April, it said it hired the CFO of visitor attraction operator Merlin Entertainments Ltd as its own CFO. It did not give a definite start date but said she would commence in the role by August 3. On Wednesday, Smith & Nephew said she would join the company on July 27.
Nemses became Merlin's CFO in August 2016. She is a non-executive director at FTSE 100-listed catering company Compass Group PLC. Before joining Merlin, she was CFO at veterinary pharmaceutical firm Dechra Pharmaceuticals PLC and before that was an executive at GlaxoSmithKline PLC, including serving as senior vice president of Finance at Glaxo's vaccines business.
Shares in Smith & Nephew were up 2.6% at 1,545.00 pence in London on Thursday morning, but are 16% lower than at the start of the year.
By Ife Taiwo; [email protected].
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