Fresenius beats Q2 view on strong unit performance, cost savings

By Bartosz Dabrowski

(Reuters) -German healthcare group Fresenius beat second-quarter operating profit expectations on Wednesday, citing strong performance at its Kabi and Helios units, and progress in group-wide cost savings.

It reported earnings before interests and taxes (EBIT) of 660 million euros ($714 million), up 16% from a year ago.

Analysts were expecting an EBIT of 636 million euros, according to a consensus of forecasts from Vara Research.

"Cash came in extremely strong, materially improving our financial profile. We are well ahead of our plans to de-leverage and to take out costs," CEO Michael Sen said in a statement.

Since his appointment in October 2022, Sen has been overhauling the group to cut costs and debt after it was hit by a decline in earnings at its former dialysis unit, Fresenius Medical Care.

The restructuring plan has brought Fresenius Kabi, a maker of generic hospital drugs, and Helios with its German and Spanish hospital chains to the forefront.

Kabi reported a quarterly EBIT growth of 17%, helped by strong biopharma business, while EBIT at Helios increased by 19% due to strong operating performance in Spain.

Fresenius said in May it had completed its restructuring with a "structured exit" from its loss-making service unit Vamed.

The group reported a quarterly net loss of 373 million euros, compared to a profit of 80 million euros a year ago, due to effects related to the discontinued operations at Vamed.

Fresenius confirmed its full-year EBIT guidance of a 6-10% growth, and said it is now confident of reaching the upper half of this range.

($1 = 0.9239 euros)

(Reporting by Bartosz Dabrowski in Gdansk; Editing by Varun H K and Janane Venkatraman)