According to recently released first-quarter financial results for 2016, sales for Össur remained flat at $114 million in U.S. currency compared to the same quarter in 2015, but grew by 3% in local currency.
Gross profit also remained flat at $71 million or 63% of sales, as did net profit at $9 million or 8% of sales, according to a company press release.
“The sales growth in the quarter is in line with expectations. The first quarter of the year is seasonally our weakest quarter,” Jón Sigurdsson, Össur president and chief executive officer, stated in the release. “[Our] product pipeline is strong, and newly launched products have been performing well.”
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization were $19 million or 16% of sales compared with $21 million or 18% of sales in the first quarter of 2015. Cash generated by operations was $16 million or 14% of sales, up from $7 million or 6% of sales in the first quarter of 2015.
The company paid dividends of 0.12 Danish Krone per share, corresponding to about 16% of Össur’s net profit in 2015. The company also completed registration of shared capital reduction of 3,292,688 shares valued at 1 Icelandic Krona each on March 21.
Sigurdsson added, “In April, we entered the upper limb prosthetics market with the acquisition of Touch Bionics, which is a leader in the field. With this acquisition, we can now offer a complete bionic portfolio to our customers.”
Össur acquired 1,915,432 of its own shares in the first quarter for $6.4 million. Its acquisition of Touch Bionics will not affect its share buyback program, according to the release.
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