Synthes announces ‘strong’ results for 2006 financial year

Synthes has announced positive financial results for the 2006 fiscal year, generating sales of $2.39 billion (1.24 million pounds), an increase of 15.1 per cent over last year’s figures.

Consolidated net earnings rose by 16.7 per cent during 2006, reaching $508.8 million, while profit margins as a percentage of sales fell 0.6 per cent to 81.9 per cent.

The firm announced a rise of 824 in the number of people employed by the company during 2006 to 8,451, while the board approved a dividend of CHF 0.75 (0.32 pounds) per share payable at the end of April 2007.

“All three product lines – trauma, spine and CMF [cranio-maxillofacial] – experienced double-digit sales growth for 2006 versus prior year,” the company reported.

“Trauma growth was primarily due to the continued expansion of locking compression plate products.”

Growth in sales of the spine product line was attributed to a number of products, including those in the anterior thoracolumbar, biomaterials, cervical and interbody fusion portfolios, while the success of the CMF line was boosted by solid core fixation growth.

In January 2007, Synthes announced that its shares had moved from the EU Regulated Market segment of virt-x to the UK Exchange Regulated Market segment.