Fresenius Meets 2020 Guidance; Expects 2021 Earnings Hit From Pandemic

   By Cecilia Butini 
 

Fresenius SE & Co. said late Monday that it has achieved its sales and net income guidance for 2020 and expects this year's earnings to be meaningfully affected by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

The German health-care company said that, according to preliminary results, it achieved its sales and net income guidance including the effects of Covid-19. It had previously guided for sales growth of 3% to 6% and for a net income development at the lower end of a range between minus 4% and 1%, in constant currency.

Group net income for 2020 was hurt by impairments at Fresenius Medical Care in Latin America for a total of about 195 million euros ($235.2 million), the company said.

Earnings for 2021 are expected to be very meaningfully affected by the effects of Covid-19, particularly due to the significant acceleration of mortality among dialysis patients at Fresenius Medical Care, the company said. It said it expects the effects of the pandemic to only begin to recede in the second half of the year, allowing for stable net income year-over-year on healthy sales growth in 2021.

Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co., the company's dialysis division, said the severity of illness in Covid-19 patients with kidney disease resulted in an increased mortality for those patients throughout 2020. This is expected to carry over into 2021, the company said.

Despite the negative impact of the pandemic, Fresenius Medical Care said it has achieved its revenue target and has slightly exceeded its net income target for 2020, based on preliminary results.

For 2021, Fresenius Medical Care expects revenue growth of up to mid-single digits and assumes net income before potential restructuring measures and including anticipated Covid-19 effects to decline by up to 25%.

Medium targets at Fresenius Medical Care and at Fresenius weren't revised, though Fresenius said it will give an update on its medium-term expectations when it publishes 2020 results on Feb 23.

Write to Cecilia Butini at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 02, 2021 02:15 ET (07:15 GMT)

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