Siemens Healthineers Surpasses Q1 Profit Expectations Amid Challenges

Siemens Healthineers Q1 Earnings Overview

Feb 5 (Reuters) - Siemens Healthineers reported first-quarter operating profit above market expectations on Thursday, as strong margin performance in its core imaging and cancer-care units helped cushion a slump in its diagnostics business and adverse currency exchange rates.

Profit and Margin Performance

The German medical technology group reported adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of 809 million euros ($953 million) for the quarter that ended on December 31, beating analysts' average estimate of 784 million euros in a poll compiled by Vara Research.

Revenue Insights

The company's adjusted EBIT margin of 15% was flat with the prior-year level and beat the 14.4% analyst forecast, suggesting that cost controls and strong performance in the imaging and precision therapy segments were successfully counteracting higher costs from tariffs and negative currency effects.

CEO's Remarks on Challenges

"We had a very good start, with higher profit and profitability in our imaging and precision therapy core despite significant headwinds from foreign-exchange rates and tariffs," CEO Bernd Montag said in a statement.

Revenue of 5.40 billion euros was slightly below the market consensus of 5.45 billion euros, as a structural market change in China weighed on the diagnostics business.

The results underscore Healthineers' reliance on its higher-margin equipment businesses in the U.S. and Europe to offset structural challenges in China and a drag from the strong euro, which hurts repatriated profits from its large U.S. sales base.

($1 = 0.8486 euros)

(Reporting by Maria Rugamer and Orest Dovhan in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)