Medical technology group Carl Zeiss Meditec began the new financial year cautiously due to reduced inventories in China and exchange rate effects. Sales in the first quarter of the financial year that began in October increased by one percent to 475 million euros, as the company listed on the MDax of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange announced on Friday in Jena. Adjusted for currency effects, there was an increase of 3.3 percent.
Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) fell from €60.3 million in the same period last year to around €43.5 million. “Supply chains have calmed down,” said CEO Markus Weber in Jena. He assumes that the special effect of inventory reduction will continue to have an impact in the second quarter.
Carl Zeiss Meditec expects the second half of the year to be more profitable
“Last summer we made it clear that this temporary effect existed.” The board confirmed its forecast that the ophthalmology specialist's sales would be at least at the level of market growth. Furthermore, the second half of the year will be more profitable.
The poor quarterly figures did not influence the share price of Carl Zeiss Meditec. On Friday the newspapers are among the winners of the MDax.
The Thuringia group employs around 4,800 people both at home and abroad, of which more than 2,200 are in Germany. Zeiss Meditec specializes in lasers, surgical microscopes, devices and artificial lenses for the treatment of eye diseases.
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