Siemens Healthineers confirms outlook despite Q1 profit drop

BERLIN (Reuters) - Siemens Healthineers confirmed its full-year outlook on Thursday despite a drop in quarterly profit driven by low demand in China, as it saw strong order growth in the first quarter.

The company stuck with its outlook for comparable revenue to be flat within a range of a 1% fall to a 1% increase in fiscal 2023 from last year's 21.7 billion euros.

Excluding revenue from rapid COVID-19 antigen tests, the figure is expected to grow 6-8%, it said, adding revenue margins were expected to improve considerably.

Shares in the U.S.-German medical device maker were up around 7% at 1000 GMT following the announcement of the results, which also showed double-digit growth in equipment orders.

However, lower sales of rapid COVID-19 antigen tests and delays at a supplier of its cancer treatment specialist Varian led to a 28% drop in operating profit during the first quarter.

Pandemic lockdowns in China also contributed to a fall in revenue at Healthineers' Diagnostics business by nearly a quarter as fewer routine medical tests were used there, the company said.

Adjusted earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) for the three months through December fell to 647 million euros ($712.93 million), less than the 663 million expected by analysts, according to a consensus provided by the company.

Revenues for the fiscal first quarter came to 5.08 billion euros, down 4.5% on a comparable basis, which was also below consensus for 5.21 billion.

($1 = 0.9075 euros)

(Reporting by Alexander Huebner, writing by Rachel More, editing by Paul Carrel and Bernadette Baum)