Virus woes, supply snags dent Smith+Nephew’s medical product sales

(Reuters) -British medical products maker Smith+Nephew posted third-quarter sales that missed market estimates on Thursday, hurt by supply chain issues and a rebound in COVID-19 cases due to the more infectious Delta variant.

Although COVID-19 vaccine rollouts and easing of curbs led to a rebound in regular healthcare services, pandemic-led logistical troubles and uncertainties over new coronavirus variants have punctured their recovery.

Sales at the company’s orthopaedics division that supplies hip and knee implants and other prosthetics slipped 0.7% to $508 million, hurt by a surge in Delta variant cases in the United States, Smith+Nephew’s biggest market.

“We are addressing the gap in our orthopaedics portfolio … and making progress on (our) supply chain,” Chief Executive Officer Roland Diggelmann said in a statement.

Revenue in the three months to Oct. 2 rose 2.3% to $1.27 billion on an underlying basis, the London-listed company said, adding that it was on track for underlying full-year revenue growth at the low end of its forecast range of 10.0% to 13.0%.

Analysts on average expected third-quarter sales of $1.30 billion, or underlying growth of 5.1%, according to a company-supplied consensus.

(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.)