By Helena Smolak
Smith & Nephew shares climbed after its full-year pretax profit rose on higher revenue, that helped offset inflationary and China headwinds.
In London early morning trading, shares in Smith & Nephew rose 9.7% to 1,144.50 pence, its biggest one-day percentage rise in more than four years. The stock has risen 14% in the year to date.
The U.K. medical-technology company said Tuesday that pretax profit for 2024 was $498 million compared with $290 million a year earlier. Revenue rose to $5.81 billion from $5.55 billion the year before, beating analysts' expectations of $5.78 billion. In the fourth quarter, revenue rose to $1.57 billion from $1.46 billion, against company-compiled consensus estimates of $1.54 billion.
Underlying growth in 2024 was 5.3%, outpacing analysts' expectations of 4.4%.
Trading profit--one of the company's preferred metrics--rose to $1.05 billion from $970 million the previous year, beating market consensus of $1.03 billion. The trading profit margin for the year was 18.1%, slightly ahead of market consensus of 17.8%, driven by cost cuts, productivity improvements and recent product launches.
The board declared a full-year dividend of 37.5 cents a share compared with 23.1 cents a share a year earlier.
Looking ahead, the company said it expects China headwinds to clear through the first quarter. It expects underlying revenue growth for 2025 to be around 5%, and its trading profit margin to be between 19% and 20%.
Write to Helena Smolak at helena.smolak@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 25, 2025 03:35 ET (08:35 GMT)
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