The difficult global economic situation is making life difficult for the healthcare group Fresenius and its dialysis subsidiary Fresenius Medical Care (FMC).

In America, FMC is suffering from a shortage of workers and the associated sharp rise in personnel costs.

In general, the overall economic environment continued to deteriorate and inflation-related cost increases accelerated, the group announced on Wednesday evening.

Thiemo Heeg

Editor in Business.

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Both Fresenius and FMC, both represented in the Dax, therefore lowered their business forecasts for the current year.

FMC has also overturned the medium-term goals for 2025.

The new FMC CEO Carla Kriwet, who comes from home appliance manufacturer BSH and will replace Rice Powell, who is retiring, is now scheduled to start on October 1st and not in January as planned.

FMC is also considering accelerating and expanding its savings program.

Meanwhile, the forecasts for Fresenius' other divisions Helios (hospitals), Kabi (drugs) and Vamed (services) remained unchanged.

"Business model is intact"

“At the end of the first quarter, we expected a prolonged labor shortage.

However, we could not foresee such a clear and rapid tightening at the time," said Helen Giza, Deputy CEO and Chief Financial Officer of Fresenius Medical Care Relief Fund further increased.

"This also limits our capacities and affects the recovery in the healthcare services business that is expected for the second half of the year."

Fresenius boss Stephan Sturm pointed out that as a global healthcare group, one could not escape the sometimes massive cost increases, increasing problems in global supply chains and staff shortages.

"In contrast to other industries, we cannot pass on the associated economic burdens in the short term via price increases."

This was taken into account in the forecasts in February and May.

"In the meantime, however, it has become clear that patient-related health services in the USA are particularly affected - and thus Fresenius Medical Care as well." Sturm was confident that the new boss Kriwet "will lead FMC into a successful future".

The conditions are "still good", despite the current burdens from the global crises.

Early on, the right trends such as home dialysis were set.

"Health is a future market that we are playing a key role in shaping and in which we want to continue to grow profitably in the long term."

Group profit falls 5 percent

In the short term, however, there is little reason for optimism.

For 2022, FMC now expects sales growth at the lower end of the previous forecast range and a decline in net income in the high teens percentage range.

So far, the company, which is mainly active in America, had announced currency-adjusted sales growth and an increase in consolidated earnings in the low to mid single-digit percentage range.

Fresenius now expects currency-neutral sales to increase in the low- to mid-single-digit percentage range and currency-neutral net income to decrease in the low- to mid-single-digit percentage range.

So far, a currency-adjusted increase in sales in the mid-single-digit percentage range and an increase in adjusted net income in the low-single-digit percentage range had been forecast.

Fresenius also downgraded its medium-term outlook.

FMC and Fresenius also presented preliminary quarterly figures.

The dialysis subsidiary turned over EUR 4.76 billion from April to June, an increase of 10 percent.

Adjusted for currency effects, growth was one percent.

Currency-adjusted net profit without special effects fell by 7 percent to 225 million euros.

The bottom line is that profits fell by a third.

At Fresenius, consolidated profit fell by 5 percent to 450 million euros.

Sales increased by 8 percent to a good ten billion euros within a year, which corresponds to an increase of 3 percent after currency adjustments.