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Medical equipment manufacturer Smith & Nephew said it had raised its full-year revenue guidance amid 'positive momentum' across the business globally in the first half of 2019.
It now expected underlying revenue growth of 4%, up 50bps from 3% previously. However, it left its expected reading profit margin guidance unchanged in the range of 22.8% to 23.2%.
It expected reported revenue growth rate to be in the range of 3.6% to 4.6% including a 200bps reduction from foreign exchange rates prevailing on 25 July 2019 and a 260bps increase from its Ceterix, Osiris, Leaf, Brainlab OJR and Atracsys acquisitions.
Revenue in the second quarter came in at $1.283bn, up 3.5% year on year on an underlying basis. Reported growth, meanwhile, was up 3.5%, despite the impact of a 2.9% currency headwind, the company said.
'Organic revenue growth has been solid across all three franchises, with strong performance in Emerging Markets and global Sports Medicine,' said CEO Namal Nawana.
Revenue grew 0.9% in the second quarter in the company's established markets, with revenue from the US, its largest single market, up 2.3%, partially offset by a revenue decline of 1.3% in its other established markets.
The emerging markets, however, which the firm said now accounted for 19% of all sales, saw a 16.2% increase in revenue in the second quarter, with China revenue growth up more than 30%.
Looking at the first half as a whole, revenue was up 3.9% on an underlying basis at $2.485bn.
The company said, as before, it would pay an interim dividend equivalent to 40% of the total dividend for the previous year. The first-half 2019 dividend would therefore be 14.4 cents per share, a 2.9% increase on last year.