Carl Zeiss Meditec achieves further revenue growth in Q1 2022/23 – Orders on hand remain high

Jena | Carl Zeiss Meditec AG

Carl Zeiss Meditec generated revenue of €470.3m in the first quarter of fiscal year 2022/23 (prior year: €410.2m), corresponding to growth of +14.6% (adjusted for currency effects: +12.1%). Orders on hand remained high at over €600m. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) decreased to around €60.3m (prior year: €74.4m). The EBIT margin was 12.8% (prior year: 18.1%).

““In a challenging environment with continued pressure on the supply chains and lockdowns in the important Chinese market, we still managed to achieve further growth. Our team is pulling out all the stops to reduce delivery times for our customers. At the same time, we are also continuously investing in our future growth,”” says Dr. Markus Weber, President and CEO of Carl Zeiss Meditec AG, commenting on the first quarter.

Revenue in the strategic business unit (SBU) Ophthalmology (previously Ophthalmic Devices) increased by +15.2% in the first quarter of fiscal year 2022/23 (adjusted for currency effects: +12.7%), to €358.2m (prior year: €310.9m). Thereby Surgical Ophthalmology and Diagnostics made a solid contribution to growth. The supply chains for the equipment business remain tense.

The strategic business unit Microsurgery achieved revenue growth of +12.9% (adjusted for currency effects: +10.3%) to €112.0m (prior year: €99.3m). This SBU is also impacted by the strain in the supply chains. Orders on hand remain sstrong.

Revenue in the EMEA¹ region increased by +7.0% (adjusted for currency effects: +9.1%), to €122.1m (prior year: €114.1m). Southern Europe is making positive contributions to growth, while the core markets Germany, France, Italy and Spain present a heterogeneous picture.

Revenue in the Americas region increased by a significant +22.2% (adjusted for currency effects: +11.2%), from €114.5m to €139.9m. This result is attributable to both the US market and Latin America, which achieved double-digit percentage growth.

The APAC region² made a solid contribution to growth. Revenue increased by 14.7% (adjusted for currency effects: +14.7%) to €208.2m (prior year: €181.5m). India and Southeast Asia, in particular, are making good contributions to revenue growth. The markets Japan and South Korea, on the other hand, were down slightly.

In spite of solid revenue growth, the operating result (earnings before interest and taxes, EBIT) declined in the first quarter of fiscal year 2022/23, to €60.3m (prior year: €74.4m). A curbing effect was had by the significantly higher operating costs, due in particular to planned investments in sales and marketing and research and development. A weaker product mix with smaller proportions of surgical consumables also added to the decline in the operating result –– primarily as a result of reduced procedures in China in the reporting period, due to COVID-19, and a slowdown of the premium IOL business in South Korea. The EBIT margin in the first three months of fiscal year 2022/23 was 12.8% (prior year: 18.1%). Adjusted for special effects, this resulted in an increase to
13.4% (prior year: 18.6%). Earnings per share benefited from gains on currency hedges and amounted to €0.57 in the first quarter (prior year: €0.42).

In spite of geopolitical risks and an increasingly difficult macroeconomic environment, the Company expects further market growth. Revenue is expected to grow at least to the same extent as the market. Inflationary pressure in materials, logistics and personnel and supply chain shortages remain in force. At the same time, investment in sales and marketing and research and development remains at a high level, as planned, in light of the launch of new products and innovations. The EBIT margin is expected to be slightly lower compared with the prior year, at around 19% to 21%. This requires a stabilization of the global supply chains, as well as a significant recovery of the consumables business in China over the further course of the fiscal year.