23 Aug 2024

Fisher and Paykel health care expects profits to rise

1:18 pm on 23 August 2024
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Photo: Supplied / Fisher & Paykel Healthcare

Fisher and Paykel expects significant profit growth due to increased demand for its healthcare products.

The company has updated its market guidance for the first half of the 2025 financial year to expect revenue of $940m to $950m and profit of $150m to $160m.

It would be growth of 18 percent in reported operating revenue and 44 percent in net profit after tax compared to the same period last year.

Managing director and chief executive Lewis Gradon said strong demand in the first four months has given the company confidence.

"Our hospital business is built on improving care and outcomes and changing clinical practice and that's ongoing. In our homecare business we have a new range of OSA masks and that's kicking in and helping growth for us.

"Additionally in our hospital business we're also influenced by seasonal hospitalisations and Covid. So, the current thinking is we've got a bit of Covid still bubbling along causing hospital admissions, causing demand for our hospital therapies during the first four months of the year."

For the full year, the company now expects revenue to be approximately $1.9b to $2b and profit to be $320m to $370m.

That is compared to guidance in May for the same revenue but profit to be between $310m to $360m.

Gradon said Fisher and Paykel is impacted by exchange rates because most of its revenue is not in New Zealand dollars.

"We do have a relatively solid hedging policy so as we progress through the year changes in exchange rates have less and less of an impact on us.

"With our hedging programme you're probably looking at tens of millions of dollars at the revenue line and significantly less at the NPAT line."

Last year profits were hit with three one-off costs, including a respiratory mask recall, which Gradon said was unusual.