Cochlear’s strong growth built on R&D investment

Hearing implant manufacturer Cochlear has reported sales revenue up 15 percent to $2.3 billion for FY24, with growth across all business units.

Cochlear implant units increased nine percent with strong growth across the developed markets, while services revenue increased 15 percent driven by strong upgrade demand for the Cochlear Nucleus 8 Sound Processor (pictured).

Statutory net profit increased 19 percent to $357 million while underlying net profit increased 27 percent to $387 million.

Cochlear told investors: “The gross margin was maintained at 75 percent, with benefits from improved average selling price offsetting the impact of inventory write-downs and lower overhead recoveries from the new Chengdu facility.

“The gross margin remained aligned to the longer-term target.”

The company reported one-off and non-recurring items after-tax of $30 million primarily relate to restructuring costs for acquired Oticon Medical cochlear implant business.

During the year Cochlear invested over $270 million in R&D, representing 12 percent of sales revenue.

“We continue to target sales revenue growth of around 10 percent, with a net profit margin (pre-cloud investment) of around 18 percent.

“For FY25, we aim to help over 50,000 people to hear with a cochlear or acoustic implant, and expect to deliver underlying net profit of $410-430 million.”

Further reading:
Cochlear completes takeover of Oticon Medical cochlear implant business

Picture: Cochlear/Cochlear Nucleus 8 Sound Processor