Bumper result for ResMed

SHARES in ResMed have slipped despite the medical device maker unveiling a bumper full-year result after ramping up manufacturing of ventilators.

The company, which is listed in Australia as well as the US, manufactures devices and cloud-based software solutions to diagnose and treat sleep apnoea and other respiratory conditions.

It produced 150,000 ventilators in the six months to June to help people with COVID-19 across 140 countries.

That was more than three times the number of ventilators produced in the same period a year ago.

“I’ve got to say I’m incredibly proud of the ResMed supply chain team, manufacturing team, distribution team and tech services team because that’s a huge pivot for a business,” ResMed chief Mick Farrell said.

“We probably saved hundreds of thousands of lives because these don’t just get used once, and we kept people breathing and as long as they could keep breathing before the virus filled up their lungs, then they lived and many, many, many people lived because of that production.”

Based in San Diego, ResMed has dual listings, on the New York Stock Exchange and the Australian Securities Exchange.

For the year to June, revenue grew 13 per cent to $US3bn ($4.16bn).

Operating profit increased 40 per cent and ResMed declared a dividend of US39c a share.

Still, the bumper result failed to impress investors and ResMed’s ASX-listed shares fell 7.4 per cent, or $2.07, to $25.88 on Thursday.

The slide came after the company flagged a slowdown in ventilator demand ahead, while demand for sleep-device products was yet to return to pre-pandemic levels, it said.

Despite falling on Thursday, shares in ResMed are still up 18.1 per cent this year.