REG - Smith & Nephew Plc - Smith+Nephew First Quarter 2026 Trading Update
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RNS Number : 1324D Smith & Nephew Plc 06 May 2026
Smith+Nephew First Quarter 2026 Trading Update
Q1 performance in line with expectations, full year outlook unchanged and new
$500 million buyback announced
6 May 2026
Highlights
· Q1 revenue $1,501 million (2025: $1,407 million), with underlying
revenue growth of 3.1%, and reported revenue growth of 6.6% including a 350bps
foreign exchange tailwind. There was one fewer trading day versus the prior
year, with underlying revenue growth of 4.7% on an adjusted daily sales (ADS)
basis
· Group growth consistent with management's expectations, with
growth across all business units and regions, strength in Sports Medicine
offsetting weakness in US Knee Implants
· More than half of growth again came from innovation launched in
the last 5 years, with multiple product platforms delivering double-digit
growth
· New $500 million share buyback announced, reflecting confidence
in 2026 performance and strong balance sheet and free cash flow generation
· Full year 2026 guidance unchanged, with Smith+Nephew on track to
deliver underlying revenue growth of around 6%, around 8% trading profit
growth (around $1.3 billion post-acquisition of Integrity Orthopaedics),
around $800 million free cash flow, and more than 10% adjusted ROIC (excluding
impact of Integrity Orthopaedics)
(Financial Performance - Q1 2026 results unless otherwise stated, growth % and
commentary are given on an underlying basis as defined on page 6 and are for
the quarter ended 28 March 2026. In Q1 2026, the currency tailwind on reported
growth versus underlying growth primarily reflected the strengthening of the
Euro against the USD.)
Deepak Nath, Chief Executive Officer, said:
"First-quarter performance was in line with our expectations, with strong
execution in Sports Medicine and solid performance in Advanced Wound
Management and the rest of Orthopaedics offsetting the anticipated softness in
US knees, reflecting the resilience and balance of our portfolio. For the
first time, Sports Medicine is now larger than Orthopaedic Reconstruction and
Robotics. And recent innovation continues to drive success across all three of
our business units, with many of our newer product platforms achieving
double-digit growth, including REGENETEN(◊), CATALYSTEM(◊), AETOS(◊),
FASTSEAL(◊) and LEAF(◊) among others.
"Our new RISE strategy has got off to a good start. While early days, we are
making progress, including announcing additional clinical data demonstrating
REGENETEN's superior effectiveness, further expanding our leading shoulder
portfolio by completing the acquisition of Integrity Orthopaedics, and
continuing to invest in expanding PICO(◊) into additional wound segments.
"These help underpin our confidence in the future and we are on track to
deliver on our full year guidance. As previously noted, revenue growth in 2026
will be weighted towards the second half of the year, driven by the ramp up of
our exciting product launches, stabilisation in US skin substitutes and an
improving trajectory in US knees.
"Today we are also announcing another share buyback, as we successfully deploy
capital and our strong balance sheet, both to invest in future growth and to
return incremental value to shareholders in the near term."
First quarter trading update
Our first quarter revenue was $1,501 million (2025: $1,407 million),
reflecting underlying revenue growth of 3.1%. Reported revenue growth was
6.6%, including 350bps tailwind from foreign exchange. The first quarter of
2026 comprised 61 trading days, one fewer than the same period of 2025. On an
ADS basis, underlying revenue growth was 4.7%.
Sports Medicine & ENT
28 March 29 March Reported Underlying Acquisitions Currency
Consolidated revenue by 2026 2025 growth growth /disposals impact
business unit by product $m $m % % % %
Sports Medicine & ENT 491 444 10.4 6.7 - 3.7
Sports Medicine Joint Repair 281 247 13.8 10.0 - 3.8
Arthroscopic Enabling Technologies 163 146 10.8 6.7 - 4.1
ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) 47 51 -7.2 -9.4 - 2.2
The strong Sports Medicine growth was broad-based and all regions contributed.
Sports Medicine Joint Repair growth was led by our shoulder repair portfolio,
including double-digit growth from our REGENETEN Bioinductive Implant and the
Q-FIX(◊) KNOTLESS All-Suture Anchor. The roll-out of our CARTIHEAL(◊)
AGILI-C(◊) Cartilage Repair Implant is going well, delivering strong growth
in the quarter. The integration of Integrity Orthopaedics, and its Tendon
Seam(◊) technology for rotator cuff repair, acquired at the start of the
year, is progressing as planned.
Arthroscopic Enabling Technologies growth was led by the WEREWOLF FASTSEAL 6.0
Hemostasis Wand and our video portfolio, as well as our service business. We
saw strong demand in China where the Volume-Based Procurement (VBP) process
has been delayed. We now expect this will be implemented in the beginning of
the second half.
ENT underlying revenue declined, as expected, as we continued to reduce
channel inventory in China in response to the expected VBP process in this
segment. Growth was strong in Other Established Markets and Latin America, and
we saw good demand for our ARIS(◊) COBLATION Turbinate Reduction Wand.
Advanced Wound Management
28 March 29 March Reported Underlying Acquisitions Currency
Consolidated revenue by 2026 2025 growth growth /disposals impact
business unit by product $m $m % % % %
Advanced Wound Management 411 385 6.6 2.2 - 4.4
Advanced Wound Care 194 173 11.7 4.9 - 6.8
Advanced Wound Bioactives 119 120 -1.1 -1.7 - 0.6
Advanced Wound Devices 98 92 7.0 1.9 - 5.1
Advanced Wound Management performance included strong growth from key
platforms and recent launches offset by the reimbursement reset for skin
substitutes and a strong comparative period in Advanced Wound Devices.
Advanced Wound Care performance included strong growth from our foam portfolio
led by ALLEVYN(◊) LIFE. The launch of ALLEVYN COMPLETE CARE in the US is
going well and we will be expanding the launch into Europe in the second
quarter.
Advanced Wound Bioactives saw a small underlying revenue decline driven by the
reimbursement reset for skin substitutes in 2026. This is driving a decline in
both volumes and pricing in non-surgical settings, particularly in mobile
where we have limited exposure. We have also seen reduced billing efficiency
and elevated inventory clearing in the system. The market is adapting slowly
to the reimbursement changes but, so far, the impact on our business has been
in line with our expectations. Looking ahead, we remain convinced of the
long-term attractiveness of the skin substitute segment beyond this transition
year. Elsewhere in the portfolio we saw double-digit growth from our enzymatic
debrider SANTYL(◊) reflecting distributor stocking patterns.
Advanced Wound Devices performance included good growth from our PICO Negative
Pressure Wound Therapy System (sNPWT), driven by demand in surgical settings,
and double-digit growth from the LEAF Patient Monitoring System as we continue
to drive our pressure injury prevention strategy. While sales of our
traditional RENASYS(◊) NPWT System continue to be soft in the acute care
channel in the US, it is performing well in post-acute, and we are continuing
to expand into Emerging Markets.
Orthopaedics
28 March 29 March Reported Underlying Acquisitions Currency
Consolidated revenue by 2026 2025 growth growth /disposals impact
business unit by product $m $m % % % %
Orthopaedics 599 578 3.7 0.8 - 2.9
Knee Implants 245 244 0.2 -2.8 - 3.0
Hip Implants 162 151 7.3 4.1 - 3.2
Other Reconstruction 31 29 9.3 6.0 - 3.3
Trauma & Extremities 161 154 4.5 2.4 - 2.1
The majority of our Orthopaedics portfolio delivered solid growth, with Hip
Implants both in the US and outside the US, and Knee Implants outside the US,
all beating the market, offsetting a decline in US Knee Implants. There was a
headwind to growth this quarter from one fewer trading day, which is made up
in Q4 2026.
This was the fourth consecutive quarter that US Hip Implants grew above the
market, with underlying and reported revenue growth of 5.8%. This was driven
again by the recently launched CATALYSTEM Primary Hip System as we increased
our penetration of the direct anterior segment. We continue to invest in the
further rollout of this product.
US Knee Implants declined -10.3% on both an underlying and reported basis.
This sales softness reflects our continuing and deliberate trade-offs to
balance growth, profit and asset efficiency ahead of the launch of our new
kinematic LANDMARK(◊) Knee System. We are being disciplined about set
placement and in managing our customer tail to improve the quality of our
base. The US market continues to shift towards cementless knees, and we are
excited about the launch of the cementless version of LANDMARK, expected in
the third quarter of 2026.
Looking ahead, while we continue to expect softness in sales performance
versus the market, we anticipate an improving trajectory. We are stepping up
set deployment for our recently launched LEGION(◊) Medial Stabilized insert,
which enhances the competitiveness of our LEGION Knee System and is performing
strongly and will support incremental growth in LEGION CONCELOC(◊), our
cementless version of LEGION, which is currently growing double-digit.
Outside the US, Knee Implants delivered strong underlying revenue growth of
6.0% (reported growth 13.4%), driven by our JOURNEY(◊) II Knee System. Hip
Implants delivered underlying revenue growth of 2.1% (reported growth 9.4%)
outside the US, led by the POLAR3(◊) Total Hip System.
Other Reconstruction underlying revenue growth reflected a strong prior year
comparator period, as well as contract mix as we continued to see good trends
in system utilisation and penetration. First quarter highlights included our
largest ever multi-system deal for the CORI(◊) Surgical System with a US
teaching institution.
Trauma & Extremities performance was driven by the EVOS(◊) Plating
System and IM Nail growth. We also drove strong double-digit growth from the
recently launched AETOS Shoulder System. During the quarter we launched CORI
Shoulder on the latest-generation CORI platform.
Orthopaedics leadership
Today we are also announcing the appointment of Nathan Folkert as President,
Orthopaedics, replacing Craig Gaffin who will be leaving Smith+Nephew to
pursue a new opportunity. Nathan will join later in May and brings with him
more than two decades of global orthopaedics leadership experience, spanning
commercial and operational roles across large medical technology
organisations. He has held senior leadership roles at Stryker, Conmed and
Zimmer, including as President of Zimmer's Trauma Division. Most recently, he
has served as CEO of Orchid Orthopedic Solutions, where he led a significant
business turnaround delivering profit growth and sustainable improvements.
We thank Craig for his contributions to the Company over the last seven years
and wish him the best for the future.
Performance by geography
28 March 29 March Reported Underlying Acquisitions Currency
Consolidated revenue by 2026 2025 growth growth /disposals impact
geography $m $m % % % %
US 775 759 2.1 2.1 - -
Other Established Markets((i)) 469 427 9.8 1.0 - 8.8
Total Established Markets 1,244 1,186 4.9 1.7 - 3.2
Emerging Markets 257 221 16.0 10.5 - 5.5
Total 1,501 1,407 6.6 3.1 - 3.5
(i) Other Established Markets are Europe, Japan, Australia, Canada and New
Zealand
Other Established Markets performance was led by growth from Canada and
Australia & New Zealand. Emerging Markets growth was led by China, and we
expect 2026 to be the first year since 2021 that China will not be a major
headwind to Group revenue growth.
Delivering our RISE strategy
We are one quarter into the RISE strategy to accelerate growth and improve
returns over the next three years. Execution against the strategy is on track
and will support performance through 2026 and beyond.
To REACH more patients, we are focused on driving adoption of our portfolio by
expanding into additional indications and geographies. Highlights in the
quarter included the expansion of CATALYSTEM into Japan and the introduction
of LEAF 3.0, a cloud-based update to our patient monitoring system.
To INNOVATE and enhance the standard of care, we continue to progress a
patient-led approach to innovation, prioritising areas with the potential to
improve outcomes. During the quarter we continued to build out the evidence
base supporting our biologics portfolio, announcing new clinical data that
compared REGENETEN implant patients with partial-thickness rotator cuff tears
with patients receiving traditional suture anchor repair which indicated that
early recovery time was halved. This is the third randomised controlled trial
(RCT) demonstrating improved outcomes for the REGENETEN Bioinductive Implant
compared with traditional rotator cuff repair techniques. We also announced
five-year outcomes data indicating that patients treated with CARTIHEAL
AGILI-C reported improved knee pain relief and quality-of-life measures.
To SCALE through strategic investment, we continued to allocate capital to
targeted categories and channels. This includes the acquisition of Integrity
Orthopaedics, announced in January. Tendon Seam's biomechanical approach to
rotator cuff repair further expands our leading portfolio in shoulder
pathology. The Group also continues to invest in expanding PICO into
additional wound segments, including applications focused on preventing
surgical site complications.
To EXECUTE efficiently, we are maintaining cost discipline and progressing the
deployment of AI and data analytics to support improvements in selected
business processes. During the quarter we created a digital twin within our
supply chain which we are integrating into our end-to-end workflows to drive
process optimisation and enhance decision-making.
New share buyback announced
Today, Smith+Nephew is announcing a share buyback of $500 million to be
completed within the next twelve months.
The buyback demonstrates our commitment to disciplined capital allocation,
balancing investment in strategic growth with the return of surplus capital to
shareholders, in line with our framework. The buyback will be financed from
free cash flow and existing cash balances.
The $500 million buyback announced today, together with the anticipated
ordinary dividends, would result in us returning more than $835 million to
shareholders over the next twelve months, equivalent to 6.3% of our market cap
based on the closing price on 1 May 2026. This new buyback follows the $500
million buyback completed in 2025.
2026 guidance unchanged
We continue to expect the following results for the full year of 2026:
· Underlying revenue growth around 6% for the full year, a new
level for Smith+Nephew. This equates to reported revenue growth of around 7.7%
based on exchange rates prevailing on 1 May 2026
· Trading profit growth on an organic basis of around 8%
· Around $800 million in free cash flow
· Greater than 10% adjusted ROIC (excluding the impact of Integrity
Orthopaedics)
As previously stated, we expect revenue leverage and operational savings to
more than offset the headwinds in 2026 to drive trading profit growth ahead of
revenue growth before acquisitions. Within this, we still expect around $60
million impact from tariffs and $20 to $40 million incremental impact from the
reimbursement reset for skin substitutes. As previously disclosed, the
acquisition of Integrity Orthopaedics is expected to be marginally dilutive to
trading profit in 2026, broadly neutral in 2027 and accretive in 2028.
Including this dilution, we expect 2026 trading profit to be around $1.3
billion based on current forecast exchange rates.
We expect a stronger second half to the year compared to the first half for
both revenue and profit growth, in keeping with normal seasonal phasing plus a
ramp-up of product launches, stabilisation in the skin substitutes market, an
improving trajectory in US Knee Implants, and an extra trading day in the
fourth quarter.
Analyst conference call
An analyst conference call to discuss Smith+Nephew's first quarter results
will be held at 8.30am BST / 3.30am EDT on Wednesday 6 May 2026, details of
which can be found on the Smith+Nephew website at
https://www.smith-nephew.com/en/who-we-are/investors.
Forward calendar
Surgeon expert insights event in London 9 June 2026.
Results for the second quarter and first half of 2026 will be released on 4
August 2026.
Investor contacts
Emily Heaven, Smith+Nephew +44 (0) 7811 919437
Craig Bijou, Smith+Nephew +1 (475) 850-8282
Media contacts
Charles Reynolds, Smith+Nephew +44 (0) 1923 477314
Susan Gilchrist / Ayesha Bharmal, Brunswick +44 (0) 20 7404 5959
Reporting definitions
Unless otherwise specified as 'reported' all revenue growth throughout this
document is 'underlying' after adjusting for the effects of currency
translation and including the comparative impact of acquisitions and excluding
disposals. All percentages compare to the equivalent 2025 period.
'Underlying revenue growth' reconciles to reported revenue growth, the most
directly comparable financial measure calculated in accordance with IFRS, by
making two adjustments, the 'constant currency exchange effect' and the
'acquisitions and disposals effect', described below.
The 'constant currency exchange effect' is a measure of the increase/decrease
in revenue resulting from currency movements on non-US Dollar sales and is
measured as the difference between: 1) the increase/decrease in the current
year revenue translated into US Dollars at the current year average exchange
rate and the prior revenue translated at the prior year rate; and 2) the
increase/decrease being measured by translating current and prior year
revenues into US Dollars using the same exchange rates.
The 'acquisitions and disposals effect' is the measure of the impact on
revenue from newly acquired material business combinations and recent material
business disposals. This is calculated by comparing the current year, constant
currency actual revenue (which includes acquisitions and excludes disposals
from the relevant date of completion) with prior year, constant currency
actual revenue, adjusted to include the results of acquisitions and exclude
disposals for the commensurate period in the prior year. These sales are
separately tracked in the Group's internal reporting systems and are readily
identifiable.
About Smith+Nephew
Smith+Nephew is a portfolio medical technology business focused on the repair,
regeneration and replacement of soft and hard tissue. We exist to restore
people's bodies and their self-belief by using technology to take the limits
off living. We call this purpose 'Life Unlimited'. Our 17,000 employees
deliver this mission every day, making a difference to patients' lives through
the excellence of our product portfolio, and the invention and application of
new technologies across our three global business units of Orthopaedics,
Sports Medicine & ENT and Advanced Wound Management.
Founded in Hull, UK, in 1856, we now operate in around 100 countries, and
generated annual sales of $6.2 billion in 2025. Smith+Nephew is a constituent
of the FTSE100 (LSE:SN, NYSE:SNN). The terms 'Group' and 'Smith+Nephew' are
used to refer to Smith & Nephew plc and its consolidated subsidiaries,
unless the context requires otherwise.
For more information about Smith+Nephew, please visit www.smith-nephew.com
(http://www.smith-nephew.com/) and follow us on X
(http://www.twitter.com/smithnephewplc) , LinkedIn
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(http://www.facebook.com/smithnephewplc) .
Forward-looking Statements
This document may contain forward-looking statements that may or may not prove
accurate. For example, statements regarding expected revenue growth and
trading profit margins, market trends and our product pipeline are
forward-looking statements. Phrases such as "aim", "plan", "intend",
"anticipate", "well-placed", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "target",
"consider" and similar expressions are generally intended to identify
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and
unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause
actual results to differ materially from what is expressed or implied by the
statements. For Smith+Nephew, these factors include: conflicts in Europe and
the Middle East, economic and financial conditions in the markets we serve,
especially those affecting healthcare providers, payers and customers; price
levels for established and innovative medical devices; developments in medical
technology; regulatory approvals, reimbursement decisions or other government
actions; product defects or recalls or other problems with quality management
systems or failure to comply with related regulations; litigation relating to
patent or other claims; legal and financial compliance risks and related
investigative, remedial or enforcement actions; disruption to our supply chain
or operations or those of our suppliers; competition for qualified personnel;
strategic actions, including acquisitions and disposals, our success in
performing due diligence, valuing and integrating acquired businesses;
disruption that may result from transactions or other changes we make in our
business plans or organisation to adapt to market developments; relationships
with healthcare professionals; reliance on information technology and
cybersecurity; disruptions due to natural disasters, weather and climate
change related events; changes in customer and other stakeholder
sustainability expectations; changes in taxation regulations; effects of
foreign exchange volatility; and numerous other matters that affect us or our
markets, including those of a political, economic, business, competitive or
reputational nature. Please refer to the documents that Smith+Nephew has filed
with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under the U.S. Securities
Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including Smith+Nephew's most recent annual
report on Form 20-F, which is available on the SEC's website at www. sec.gov,
for a discussion of certain of these factors. Any forward-looking statement is
based on information available to Smith+Nephew as of the date of the
statement. All written or oral forward-looking statements attributable to
Smith+Nephew are qualified by this caution. Smith+Nephew does not undertake
any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect
any change in circumstances or in Smith+Nephew's expectations.
(◊) Trademark of Smith+Nephew. Certain marks registered in US Patent and
Trademark Office.
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