(Reuters) – Medical equipment maker Getinge reported a smaller-than-expected drop in first-quarter core profit on Monday, as new orders offset the costs of resolving prolonged problems with its product packaging and heart products.
Shares in Getinge were up 6% in midday trading.
Its earnings before interest, tax and amortisation (EBITA), adjusted for items affecting comparability, were 842 million Swedish crowns ($77 million), down 13.4% from 972 million a year earlier, but above a consensus of 770 million cited by J.P.Morgan.
Getinge has been scrambling to resolve quality problems with sterile packaging of products for heart-lung support systems and with its heart pumps, hurting its margins since the second quarter last year.
($1 = 10.9025 Swedish crowns)
(Reporting by Greta Rosen Fondahn and Elsa Ohlen in Gdansk; Editing by Milla Nissi)
