[ad_1]
Siemens’ medical technology division is struggling with delivery issues due to the corona crisis.
X-ray machines and computed tomography (CT) scans cannot be delivered or installed late or installed, doctors and clinics treat fewer patients with other diseases, so laboratories need fewer reagents for blood tests. Therefore, Siemens Healthineers retracted its sales and profit forecasts for the current fiscal year 2019/20 (at the end of September) on Tuesday. “Neither the duration nor the intensity of the Covid 19 pandemic has been confirmed,” said CEO Bernd Montag in Erlangen. “Consequently, from today’s perspective, it is not possible to assume anything about business development.” However, it will probably bottom out in the current third quarter (April to June).
Siemens Healthineers had previously anticipated a comparable increase in sales of five to six percent and a six to twelve percent increase in earnings, despite the uneven start to the financial year. After six months, there is only an adjusted sales increase of four percent and a slight decrease in profits.
X-ray and computed tomography devices, as well as Siemens systems to monitor blood gas concentration, are often used in the examination and treatment of patients with corona pulmonary disease. This apparently did not lead to additional requests. Without the consequences of the pandemic, sales in the second quarter would have increased by four percent, the Siemens subsidiary said. Healthineers hastily launched its own corona test to detect the virus, and an antibody test will be done in late May.
Quarterly profit of 414 million euros.
In the second quarter, sales increased on a comparable basis by 3.3 percent to just under € 3.7 billion, adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) increased by six percent to € 659 million, the Sales operating performance was stable at 17.9 (17.8) percent. The bottom line was a nine percent gain in earnings to € 414 million, but this was not enough to offset first quarter losses.
The largest sales and profit generator, the imaging division (X-ray, ultrasound, MRI), grew by almost six percent; without Corona, there would have been up to five percentage points more, Healthineers said. In the diagnostic division, the consumption of reagents for analyzers, with which the company earns more money, decreased. The division posted 2.2 percent less sales and cut its operating profit in half.
(Reuters)
