Fisher & Paykel Healthcare has beat market expectations with strong demand for its products and lower freight costs.
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Key numbers for the six months to 30 September versus year earlier period.
- Net profit $221.8 million vs $225.5m
- Revenue $900m vs $910.2m
- Dividend 17 cents per share vs 16 cps
The medical equipment manufacturer's net profit for the six months ended September fell just 2 percent, which was well under the consensus forecast of just under $200m.
"Our financial results in the first half of the 2022 financial year have continued to be very strong," managing director Lewis Gradon said.
Revenue was down just 1 percent, with the bottom line helped by an easing in elevated freight and air costs, which had eased back from the year earlier peak.
The company was sticking with its outlook for the second half of the year, as demand for acute respiratory products by hospitals in Europe and North America also eased back from last year's peak Covid-19 outbreak, but demand was still strong.
"For the second half, we expect our hospital hardware sales will continue to be impacted by Covid-related hospital admissions.
"However, as we said in our August trading update, many countries have already boosted their hospital treatment capacity, so we do not expect hospital hardware revenue to continue at an elevated level for the rest of the year," Gradon said.
The first half saw demand from Europe drop 14 percent, while North America fell 12 percent, although there had been a significant increase in Asia Pacific, which rose 45 percent.
"In the absence of further comparable hospitalisation surges around the world, we would expect our consumables revenue for the second half of this financial year to be lower than the second half last year," he said.
"Ongoing localised surges in Covid-19 cases and civic responses indicate that it may yet be a long journey to get to a point where business and life are more predictable."