Smith & Nephew names new Chairman as quarterly profits fall

31st Oct 2013 12:32

- Q3 pre-tax profits fall- But underlying trading profits up 10 per cent- Roberto Quarta named as new ChairmanSmith & Nephew revealed it had chosen Roberto Quarta as its new Chairman as it reported a drop in quarterly profits.Quarta, who is also chairman of fellow FTSE 100 group IMI, will join the board on December 4th and is expected to become Chairman at the company's annual meeting next April. The medical devices group said pre-tax profits fell to $178m in the three months to September 28th from $191m in the same period last year after research and developments expenses rose to $59m from $40m.But Chief Executive Olivier Bohuon described the quarter as "strong" with underlying trading profits up 10% on revenues of $1bn - up 5% on the previous year. He flagged a 12% increase in revenues at its advanced wound management business. There has also been an improvement in the performance of its knee and hip implant business thanks to new product launches and increased investment in product marketing and education. Knee implant revenues were up 2% and hip implant revenues rose 3%, but they were still behind market growth rates.The FTSE 100 medical devices group stuck to its full year outlook. Bohuon said: "Our markets remain tough, but through implementing our strategic priorities we are meeting these challenges."Jefferies' analysts said the results were slightly ahead of consensus and reiterated its buy rating. But they noted "After strong orthopaedics growth at competitors, a slight beat was expected."Shares in Smith & Nephew were down 3.7% to 864p at 12:48.TB