Carl Zeiss Meditec continues strong growth trend after nine months of 2018/19

Carl Zeiss Meditec generated revenue of €1,027.6m in the first nine months of fiscal year 2018/19, corresponding to an increase of 10.9% (adjusted for currency effects: +8.9%) compared with the same period of the prior year (prior year: €926.3m). Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) increased significantly, to €184.2m (prior year: €134.8m). The EBIT margin also increased, to 17.9% (prior year: 14.6%).  

“All strategic business units made valuable contributions to this very encouraging increase in revenue and earnings. Once again, revenue from consumables for ophthalmic surgery increased the most,” says Dr. Ludwin Monz, President and CEO of Carl Zeiss Meditec AG.

The Ophthalmic Devices strategic business unit (SBU) increased its revenue by 12.0 percent in the first nine months of fiscal year 2018/19 (adjusted for currency effects: +10.1 percent), to €762.7m, compared with €681.0m in the first nine months of fiscal year 2017/18. This revenue increase was mainly attributable to the persistently high demand for laser vision correction systems, as well as devices and consumables for cataract surgery.

Revenue in the Microsurgery SBU grew by 8.0 percent (adjusted for currency effects: +5.7 percent), to €264.9m, compared with €245.2m in the same period of the prior year. Sales of neurosurgical visualization systems for the treatment of tumors and vascular disease also remained buoyant.

Revenue in the EMEA region rose by 9.3 percent in the first nine months of fiscal year 2018/19 (adjusted for currency effects: +10.0 percent), to €308.2m (prior year: €282.0m). Germany, France and the UK posted strong revenue growth.
Revenue in the Americas region amounted to €292.5m, and thus only approximated the prior year’s level after adjustment for currency effects (prior year: €279.3m; equates to +4.7 percent, or after adjustment for currency effects, -0.3 percent). This development should mainly be viewed in the context of a strong prior-year period, which benefited significantly from new product launches.

Once again, the APAC region achieved the highest growth rate, with a revenue increase of 17.0 percent (adjusted for currency effects: +15.4 percent), to €426.9m (prior year: €364.9m). The largest contributions to this growth once again came from China and South Korea. Japan also performed well.

The operating result (EBIT) increased in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, reaching €184.2m (prior year: €134.8m). This growth is mainly due to a positive development of the product mix, with a high proportion of recurring revenue. The EBIT margin increased from 14.6 percent to 17.9 percent. Adjusted for special effects, this resulted in an increase to 18.2 percent (prior year: 14.8 percent). Earnings per share rose from €0.92 in the prior year to €1.22.

Based on this positive trend, Carl Zeiss Meditec is further specifying its forecast for fiscal year 2018/19. Revenue is expected to be at the upper end of or slightly above the previous forecast range of €1,350m to €1,420m. The EBIT margin is expected to exceed the corridor set in April 2019, of 15.0 to 17.5 percent, in the current fiscal year.

Dr. Ludwin Monz added: “Our main objective is to increase our long-term competitiveness. As already communicated when we published our half-year results, we plan to capitalize on the current favorable earnings situation to also step up investments in research and development. This applies in particular to the area of digital solutions for ophthalmic surgery, in which we aim to further extend our innovative edge. We shall make a precise forecast for the development of the EBIT margin beyond the end of the current fiscal year when we publish our annual results for fiscal year 2018/19. From today’s perspective, however, we do not anticipate a sustainable increase in the EBIT margin in fiscal year 2019/20, in view of the planned strategic investments.”