Wright Medical Group, an orthopaedic medical device company, has reported net sales totaled $129.9m during the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2009, an 8% increase over net sales of $120.1m during the fourth quarter of 2008. Excluding the impact of foreign currency, net sales increased 5% during the fourth quarter.
Wright Medical reported net income of $2.2m compared to net loss of $2.7m. The fourth quarter net income, as adjusted, totaled $10.8m in 2009 compared to $12.6m in 2008, while diluted earnings per share, as adjusted, totaled $0.27 and $0.31 for the fourth quarter of 2009 and 2008, respectively. A reconciliation of US GAAP to ‘as adjusted’ results is included in the attached financial tables.
Gary Henley, president and chief executive officer, said: “We are pleased with the improvements we made to the underlying capabilities of our business in 2009 including increasing the size of our focused sales force, expanding our product portfolios and improving our cash flow capabilities. These improvements leave us well positioned for growth in 2010 and beyond.
“We are also pleased with our fourth quarter performance, as better than anticipated sales and a lower than expected effective tax rate enabled us to make strategic investments in our business while still exceeding our previously communicated earnings guidance. Additionally, continued excellent working capital management produced $10.8m of free cash flow for the quarter, and a record $34.6m for the full year 2009.”
The company anticipates full year 2010 net sales to be in the range of $515m to $530m, which represents annualized as-reported and constant-currency growth expectations of approximately 6% to 9%. The company anticipates full year 2010 as-adjusted earnings per share to be in the range of $0.88 to $0.94 per diluted share, reflecting growth of 4% to 11%.