Siemens Healthineers beats Q1 profit view despite currency, China headwinds

Feb 5 (Reuters) – Siemens Healthineers reported first-quarter operating profit above market expectations on Thursday, as strong margin performance in its core imaging and cancer-care units helped cushion a slump in its diagnostics business and adverse currency exchange rates.

The German medical technology group reported adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of 809 million euros ($953 million) for the quarter that ended on December 31, beating analysts’ average estimate of 784 million euros in a poll compiled by Vara Research.

The company’s adjusted EBIT margin of 15% was flat with the prior-year level and beat the 14.4% analyst forecast, suggesting that cost controls and strong performance in the imaging and precision therapy segments were successfully counteracting higher costs from tariffs and negative currency effects.

“We had a very good start, with higher profit and profitability in our imaging and precision therapy core despite significant headwinds from foreign-exchange rates and tariffs,” CEO Bernd Montag said in a statement.

Revenue of 5.40 billion euros was slightly below the market consensus of 5.45 billion euros, as a structural market change in China weighed on the diagnostics business.

The results underscore Healthineers’ reliance on its higher-margin equipment businesses in the U.S. and Europe to offset structural challenges in China and a drag from the strong euro, which hurts repatriated profits from its large U.S. sales base.

($1 = 0.8486 euros)

(Reporting by Maria Rugamer and Orest Dovhan in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)