Getinge tops profit estimates even as it absorbs chunk of tariff costs

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By Marta Frackowiak

(Reuters) -Swedish medical equipment maker Getinge beat quarterly earnings expectations on Tuesday, aided by price hikes and cost saving measures meant to combat a hit from U.S. tariffs and negative currency exchange effects.

Shares in the company, which made 45% of its third-quarter sales in the Americas, rose around 3% by 0804 GMT.

Its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation grew 19% to 1.08 billion Swedish crowns ($114.7 million) in the quarter, while analysts were expecting 1.02 billion crowns on average.

Tariff-related costs were 108 million crowns higher than last year, while unfavourable currency exchange rates cost the company 128 million crowns in the quarter, CEO Mattias Perjos told Reuters.

The maker of products for surgery, intensive care and sterilisation has said that U.S. import duties on medical equipment will ultimately affect hospitals and patients the most, as manufacturers raise prices to pay for the tariffs on imported products or their components.

In the short term, however, Getinge has to absorb a large share of those costs, before the increased prices are fully reflected in the results.

“Intensified efforts to improve cost efficiency and boost productivity are generating results and in general, we are successful at keeping material cost development under control,” Perjos said in a statement. Those measures also include some supply chain changes, he added in the interview.

More than 60% of Getinge’s products sold in the U.S. are manufactured there, Perjos said. The rest is mainly imported from Europe and subject to the 15% tariff agreed between the U.S. and the European Union.

Last month, the U.S. launched a national security investigation into imports of medical devices and industrial machinery, including items like infusion pumps, hospital beds and surgical instruments, which could lead to higher tariffs.

However, none of the categories listed in the probe concern Getinge’s products, said Perjos, confirming the group’s outlook for 2025. “We’re working on the assumption that the current levels in tariffs are the ones that we will pay.”

($1 = 9.4155 Swedish crowns)

(Reporting by Marta Frackowiak in Gdansk; Editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)