Smith+Nephew has reported that its operating profit increased by 54.6% in the year to the end of December, reaching $657m (£518.7m) in this period.

The portfolio medical device company stated that its revenue jumped by 4.7% in 2024 to $5.81bn (£4.59bn), while its trading profit increased by 8.2% to almost $1.05bn (£830m).

The firm said that these increases were a result of actions from its 12-point plan, offsetting headwinds from inflation and China.

Smith+Nephew added that its earnings per share had also jumped by 56.3% in this period to 47.2 cents.

Chief executive officer at Smith+Nephew, Deepak Nath, said: "Smith+Nephew's transformation remains on track with the 12-point plan increasingly delivering better financial performance. Revenue growth is consistently above historical levels following operational and commercial improvements. Changes to our organisational structure are driving increased accountability at the business unit level.

"We finished the year strongly and US reconstruction was again sequentially better. Our innovation continued to deliver, with more than 60% of revenue growth in 2024 coming from products launched in the last five years. We have launched nearly 50 new products over the last three years and have an exciting pipeline for 2025."

Looking to the 2025 financial year, Smith+Nephew expects its revenue growth to be around 5%, with first quarter revenue growth in the range of 1% and 2%, as a result of continued headwinds from its Chinese market and one less trading day.

Its full year trading profit margin is also expected to be in the range of 19% and 20%.

Investment director at AJ Bell, Russ Mould, said that prior to these results, "time was running out" for the firm to demonstrate they could turn results around after "years of underperformance".

He concluded: "As the company executed on its 12-point recovery plan it reported a meaningful increase in revenue, notably better profitability and, perhaps most important of all, drastically improved cash generation.

"Particularly pleasing to investors is the buoyant outlook for 2025, with the promise of further margin improvement to come.

"After nearly three years in the job it looked like Nath was running out of road. These results should give him more time to execute on his strategy."

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