Fresenius Medical Care sees 9% revenue increase in first quarter
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Fresenius Medical Care posted a 9% increase in revenue in the first quarter of 2020 despite negative impact from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The German company also confirmed its financial targets for the remainder of the year.
“In these unprecedented times, it is our first and foremost priority to maintain the continuity and high quality of care,” Rice Powell, CEO of Fresenius Medical Care, said in a press release. “For months now, our employees have been working tirelessly to ensure that our patients receive their life-saving dialysis treatments. I cannot thank them enough.”
Despite lockdown efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic in many countries, Fresenius Medical Care did not experience any major disruptions in its manufacturing facilities, the company said. Higher costs due to the pandemic came from the need for additional personal protective equipment, dedicated capacities for isolated treatments, additional personnel expense, patient transportation, as well as increased distribution logistic costs, the company said.
In the United States, Fresenius Medical Care has been working with other dialysis providers to create isolation clinics and dedicated shifts for patients who are or may be infected with COVID-19.
“A critical aim of this collaboration is to keep dialysis patients out of the hospital whenever possible, freeing up limited hospital resources,” the company noted.
Fresenius said it expects both revenue and net income to grow at a middle to high single-digit rate in 2020. For the quarter, revenue increased by 9%, with organic growth of 4%. Health Care Services revenue rose by 8%, driven by growth in same market treatments, contributions from acquisitions and an increase in dialysis days. Health Care Products revenue grew by 10%. This increase was mainly due to higher sales of products for acute care treatments, renal pharmaceuticals and bloodlines, partially offset by lower sales of dialysis machines, the company said.
Operating income increased by 3%, mainly driven by a favorable impact from higher treatment volume and lower costs for pharmaceuticals.
For North America operations, revenue increased by 10%. Operating income grew by 24%, resulting in a margin of 14.5%. Despite the negative impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, the operating income margin increased mainly due to lower costs for pharmaceuticals and gains from divestitures.
As of March 31, Fresenius Medical Care treated 348,703 patients in 4,002 dialysis clinics worldwide. At the end of the first quarter, the company had 121,403 employees (full-time equivalents) worldwide compared to 118,308 employees as of March 31, 2019.
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