Covidien sees growth in fourth quarter and full-year 2013

Covidien has published its financial report for the fourth quarter of the 2013 business year, highlighting the strong performance it achieved during this period.

The medical technology firm delivered a net sales total of $2.56 billion (1.61 billion pounds), up by two percent year on year, while its full-year figure came to $10.24 billion – a rise of four percent on 2012.

Although the strength of the US dollar against most foreign currencies had a negative impact on its reported sales growth, the company was able to achieve encouraging performance for its endomechanical instruments and energy divisions, as well as in emerging markets.

Meanwhile, the businesses it purchased in 2012 – Oridion, superDimension, Barrx and Newport – all achieved double-digit sales growth.

Jose Almeida, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Covidien, said: "We delivered a solid performance in the fourth quarter and finished 2013 in line with our expectations."

This comes after the firm last month agreed to sell its Confluent Surgical product line to Integra LifeSciences in a deal worth around $265 million.