Ansell on course to exceed forecasts

ANSELL expects to beat its upgraded full-year earnings guidance amid elevated coronavirus-driven demand for many of the protective garment manufacturer’s products.

The company said an increasing number of COVID-19 cases had continued to boost global demand for its products and help the company grow market share in the mechanical and surgical segments.

Ansell said unlike many other PPE manufacturers, it had been able to meet the increased demand while successfully offsetting rising input costs through product price increases.

Ansell was expecting to deliver organic growth “north of 20 per cent” and unaudited earnings per share of US81c to US84c for the first half of the financial year, a potential 68 per cent increase on the previous comparable period, it said. This means the company “anticipates to exceed” its fullyear guidance of $US1.35 to $US1.45 earnings per share by an unspecified amount.

Ansell managing director and CEO Magnus Nicolin said the sales and earnings growth was a new record for the company.

“We acknowledge we have seen record sales and earnings growth in (the first half) in what has been an extraordinary period where we have seen better than expected performance across all of our strategic business units,” he said.

Ansell said it expected demand for all of its products to remain elevated throughout the financial year, but the uncertainties of the global pandemic meant the second half might not be as strong as the first. “There remains significant uncertainties given that COVID-19 continues to impact the company’s manufacturing operations and supply chain,” it said.

Ansell shares rallied 3.6 per cent to $36.67.