Smith & Nephew Inc. 2011 Q1 Results - Good Start to the Year

5 May 2011 -- Smith & Nephew plc (LSE: SN, NYSE: SNN), the global medical technology business, announces its results for the first quarter ended 2 April 2011.

Q1 Commentary

- Reported revenue was $1,055 million, underlying growth of 4%

- Reported trading profit was $241 million and trading margin was 22.8%

- trading profit growth was 3% and trading profit margin essentially unchanged on last year, after deducting the $23 million benefit from the settlement of the BlueSky acquisition agreement

- EPSA was 18.4 cents

- Geographically, we grew by 4% in the US, 1% in Europe and 8% in the rest of the world

- Orthopaedics continued its momentum from last year, outperforming the reconstruction market, driven by 10% growth in US knees

- Endoscopy again achieved double digit sales growth in sports medicine repair products

- Advanced Wound Management delivered strong NPWT growth

- Strong cash flow reduced net debt to $351 million

Olivier Bohuon, Chief Executive Officer of Smith & Nephew, said:

“I have been at Smith & Nephew for only a month, but have been impressed by the team’s achievements. Smith & Nephew is a quality company with strong foundations and good momentum. My goal is to ensure that this performance continues and that Smith & Nephew achieves even greater success for all stakeholders.”

Commenting on trading in the first quarter, Adrian Hennah, Chief Financial Officer of Smith & Nephew, said:

“Smith & Nephew delivered underlying revenue growth of 4% for the first quarter of 2011. We had a good start to the year with our US knee franchise, sports medicine repair and Negative Pressure Wound Therapy businesses all continuing their strong growth.

We remain confident that the increased level of investment in our businesses – in particular, developing more innovative products and increasing our scale in the emerging markets – will deliver continued long term growth.”

Analyst presentation and conference call

An analyst presentation and conference call to discuss Smith & Nephew’s first quarter results will be held at 8.30am BST/3.30am EST today, Thursday 5 May. This will be broadcast live on the company’s website and will be available on demand shortly following the close of the call at http://www.smith- nephew.com/Q111. A podcast will also be available at the same address. If interested parties are unable to connect to the web, a listen-only service is available by calling +44 (0) 20 7806 1953 in the UK or +1 212 444 0412 in the US, confirmation code: 1243173. Analysts should contact Jennifer Watson on +44 (0)20 7960 2255 or by email at jennifer.watson@smith-nephew.com for conference call details.

1 Unless otherwise specified as ‘reported’, all revenue increases/decreases throughout this document are underlying increases/decreases after adjusting for the effects of currency translation. See note 3 to the financial statements for a reconciliation of these measures to results reported under IFRS.

2 A reconciliation from operating profit to trading profit is given in note 4 to the financial statements. The underlying increase in trading profit is the increase in trading profit after adjusting for the effects of currency translation.

3 Adjusted earnings per ordinary share (“EPSA”) growth is as reported, not underlying, and is stated before restructuring and rationalisation costs, amortisation of acquisition intangibles and taxation thereon. See note

2 to the financial statements.

4 All numbers given in this document are for the quarter ended 2 April 2011 unless stated otherwise.

5 References to market growth rates are estimates generated by Smith & Nephew based on a variety of sources.

Enquiries

Investors/Analysts

+44 (0) 20 7401 7646

Phil Cowdy

Smith & Nephew

Media

Jon Coles

+44 (0) 20 7404 5959

Justine McIlroy

Brunswick – London

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