Munich The Dax group Siemens Healthineers has again raised its forecast for the current fiscal year in view of the high demand for rapid corona tests. “Our business continues to prove very resilient in the face of unprecedented challenges,” said CEO Bernd Montag on Wednesday.
In the second quarter of 2021/22 (September 30), the sales of the Siemens subsidiary increased more than expected on a comparable basis by 16 percent to almost 5.5 billion euros. Analysts had expected an average of only 5.2 billion euros. The adjusted operating result also increased more than the market had expected, by almost half to EUR 980 million.
In light of the strong gains, the company raised the outlook again. Healthineers now expects comparable sales growth of 5.5 to 7.5 percent and adjusted basic earnings per share of between EUR 2.25 and EUR 2.35 for the full year. Most recently, in the forecast raised at the beginning of February, the group had expected growth of three to five percent and a profit of EUR 2.18 to 2.30.
The high demand for corona tests is primarily responsible for the good business development. Here the industry had slowly adjusted to an ebb. However, in the second quarter, Healthineers achieved sales of almost 680 million euros with the rapid antigen tests. As a result, sales in the diagnostics division increased by 37 percent to 1.8 billion euros.
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For the year as a whole, the group now expects sales of 1.3 billion euros from corona tests – significantly more than originally forecast. But the other business areas were also able to grow despite material shortages. Adjusted for the rapid corona tests, revenues grew by a comparable 4.4 percent.
Abbott and Roche are also making significant gains
In the first quarter of the year, other diagnostics companies also benefited from the high demand for Covid-19 tests as a result of the widespread use of the omicron variant. Large competitors such as Abbott or Roche continued to grow in the high double digits in the diagnostics business thanks to the corona tests. While Roche’s diagnostics division grew currency-adjusted by 24 percent to 5.3 billion francs (around 5.2 billion euros), the sales of the US group Abbott even rose by 35 percent to 5.3 billion dollars (around 4.8 billion euros ).
Both companies are also strong in PCR testing, a field in which Healthineers only has a small business. The Siemens subsidiary is particularly strong in rapid antigen tests.
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