Smith & Nephew quarterly revenue slides amid Covid crisis
Smith & Nephew said on Wednesday that it expects a second-quarter underlying revenue decline of around 29%.
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The FTSE 100 medical technology company said that was in line with its previously-published outlook for underlying revenue for the quarter to be “substantially down” year-on-year, as its major markets were impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
It said it was “encouraged”, however, by the improving performance as the quarter progressed, with underlying revenue declines of 47% in April, 27% in May, and around 12% in June.
Smith & Nephew said performance was correlated “strongly” with the easing of lockdown restrictions, and the resumption of elective surgeries.
Still, it said there was ongoing, “significant” uncertainty and geographical variation.
The impact of the coronavirus pandemic had been most pronounced on its orthopaedic reconstruction, sports medicine and ear, nose and throat (ENT) businesses, driven by lower levels of elective surgery in the quarter.
Its advanced wound management and trauma businesses were more resilient.
“As a result of the trading performance across the first and second quarters, we continue to expect that the first half trading margin will be substantially down on the prior year,” the board said in its statement.
“An update on this, and our progress across the group on controlling discretionary costs, will be included with our second quarter and first half results.”
Those results will be reported as planned on 29 July, the firm said.