Q4 Insights:

Smith+Nephew, a U.K.-based manufacturer of orthopedic, sports medicine and wound devices, said it recorded underlying sales growth at all its businesses in the fourth quarter even as profit declined cut.

“Underlying growth rate accelerated versus the first nine months with all of our franchises contributing,” CEO Deepak Nath said in an earnings call on Tuesday. “We've continued to outperform in sports and wound management. We're still early in our work to fix orthopedics. Although growth improved there, too, it will take some time for us to get to where we want to be.”

“With improving operations and a good exit to 2022, we expect both faster growth and margin expansion in the coming year,” he added.

Revenue excluding foreign-exchange fluctuations climbed 6.8%, the strongest quarterly underlying sales growth in 2022, the company said.

Supply chain challenges ease

Smith+Nephew said supply chain problems and issues including a labor shortage in Memphis, Tenn., that have hurt operations in recent years are showing signs of easing.  

“We've also made progress with product availability, which has limited our growth in recent quarters. Our internal supply chain performance is starting to improve. And while there are still challenges in the availability of external inputs like semiconductor, resin, sterilization capacity, we're seeing some easing,” CFO Anne-Francoise Nesmes said on the call. 

Forecast: 

Smith+Nephew is targeting revenue growth of 5% to 6% for 2023.