For the first quarter of 2024, Siemens Healthineers has seen its revenue stream soar 7% beyond expectations to €5.18 billion ($5.60 billion) in the three months through December, driven by substantial sales growth at its radiotherapy subsidiary Varian and within its medical imaging division.
According to its quarterly earnings report, the company's Adjusted Earnings before Interest and Taxes (EBIT) on this amount was €742 million ($802 million), 14.3% above the prior-year quarter. Expecting to see this trend continue in the fiscal 2024 year, it anticipates comparable revenue growth between 5% and 7%. Adjusted basic earnings per share is expected to be between €2.10 and €2.30.
It should be noted that these figures do not account for the now-defunct rapid COVID-19 antigen test business, which causes revenue growth to slightly dip to 5.7%. The business, which ended in Q4 2023, also brings comparable revenue growth expectations down to between 4.5% and 6.5%.
Still, the company had a very good equipment book-to-bill ratio of 1.14 and says that adjusted basic earnings per share are €0.49.
“The transformation of our diagnostics business is showing positive momentum and Varian delivered strong results. In parallel, we are focused on our new, ambitious sustainability goals,” said Bernd Montag, CEO of Siemens Healthineers, in a statement.
The German-based healthcare manufacturer attributes this growth to several factors:
- 22.3% increase in Varian’s revenue, with an adjusted EBIT margin of 15.9%. The company attributed this rise to sales improvements in China compared to the same time last year when the country was faced with supply chain delays, reported Reuters.
- 5.3% growth in its Imaging revenue, with an adjusted EBIT margin of 19.1% (due to a temporary unfavorable business mix)
- 5% increase in revenue for its Advanced Therapies division, with an adjusted EBIT margin of 14.3%
- 1.6% revenue growth in its diagnostics unit, excluding rapid COVID-19 antigen tests. When included, the antigen test business brought revenue down by 4%. The adjusted EBIT margin was 5.1%
The results are a stark contrast to its Q1 2023 fiscal report, which saw a 4.5% year-over-year drop in revenue (0.7% increase when excluding the antigen test business). In diagnostics, quarterly revenues plunged 23.7%, and rapid antigen tests saw an 80% fall from the same time in 2022.
The company said at the time that this was primarily due to lower testing revenues from China, which started 2023 in strict lockdown. It also exited less lucrative markets in its diagnostics division, which led to an undisclosed number of workers losing their jobs.