Smith & Nephew in rude health as demand soars

SMITH & NEPHEW was in rude health after it raised its forecasts on the back of booming demand for its medical devices.

The FTSE 100 company, which provides hip and knee implants, said it expects revenue for 2023 to increase by between 5pc and 6pc.

That’s better than the 4.7pc rise in revenues to £4.3bn it reported for 2022. But profit fell to £195m from £485m a year earlier, as it was hit by higher freight costs.

Smith & Nephew’s strongest quarter came during the final three months of 2022 when revenue rose 6.8pc to £1.13bn.

The group remained hopeful for a recovery in orthopaedics, its largest division, after rising Covid cases in China hit the number of operations taking place.

Trading was stronger across the two other divisions – the sports medicine & ear, nose and throat business and the advanced wound management arm – which make up 60pc of all sales. Shares rose 4.2pc, or 49p, to 1210.5p.

The FTSE 100 fell 0.5pc, or 36.56 points, to 7977.75 and the FTSE 250 was down 1.2pc, or 247.56 points, to 19850.85.

A host of mining updates weighed on the London market. Anglo American sank 5.5pc, or 183.5p, to 3154p after its subsidiary Kumba Iron Ore said production forecasts for this year would not be reached until 2025 as a result of ongoing issues with South Africa’s state-owned freight transport Transnet.

Things were not much better for Antofagasta, which slashed its dividend by nearly 60pc after a steep drop in profits.

It will pay shareholders a total dividend of 59.7 cents for 2022 – down from a record 142.5 cents per share a year earlier. Profits fell nearly 40pc as sales weakened and the cost of doing business soared.

Revenues plunged more than 20pc following lower copper production due to a drought and pipeline incident at its Los Pelambres mine in Chile. Shares fell 2.2pc, or 39p, to 1722p.

Matters were not helped by BHP, which reported a 30pc slump in profits during the second half of 2022 after the market closed on Monday. Shares were down 3.6pc, or 104p, to 2751p.

There was also little to celebrate for fraud prevention specialist GB Group after it warned business was still tough in North America.

The firm, which develops software to help customers verify data such as addresses, said revenue for the year to the end of March is now set to be around £279m – below the £292m expected by analysts.

Its forecast for profits of £60m also falls short of market expectations of £67m. Shares slid 4.1pc, or 14.2p to 330p.

Meanwhile, UK Oil and Gas jumped 25.6pc, or 0.02p, to 0.08p after a report said its Loxley gas discovery nearly ten miles south of Guildford, Surrey, could be worth up to £124m.

Blancco Technology, which offers software that can erase data on old laptops and mobiles, saw its revenue rise 22pc to £24m for the six months to December.

Profit jumped 42pc to £2.6m during the period. Shares rose 15.6pc, or 25.5p, to 188.5p.

Elsewhere, biotechnology group Scancell shot up 11.1pc, or 2p, to 20p after positive early clinical results from its vaccine to treat four different types of cancer.

Wizz Air fell after Barclays downgraded the airliner to ‘underweight’ from ‘overweight’ and cut the target price to 2400p from 3000p. Shares sank 4.9pc, or 132p, to 2545p.

Vodafone has taken another step towards streamlining its African portfolio. The telecoms giant completed the sale of its 70pc stake in Vodafone Ghana to Telecel Group.

The Ghanaian government will retain its 30pc minority shareholding. Vodafone shares fell 1.1pc, or 1.1p, to 101.6p.