Ansell (ANS), a healthcare barrier protection business, reconfirmed its earnings per share are in line with its guidance at its annual general meeting today and indicated strong first quarter results.
It is in line with EPS guidance of US$0.56 to US$0.60 for the current year ending June 2008.
"We've made good progress in the first quarter on many fronts and our EBIT has improved nicely on last year," chief executive officer Doug Tough said.
Chief financial officer, Rustom Jilla assured shareholders that although translating the US dollar EPS into Australian dollars at current exchange rates has a negative impact, Ansell manufactures in many countries and "hedge our foreign currency portfolio into US dollars such that forex movements will not pose a downside risk to our forecast US dollar EPS".
Ansell's sales revenues of US$975 million represent a 15% increase over the previous year. The previous best growth rate over the last 7 years was only 4.5%.
Total shareholder return for the financial year 2007 was 28%.
Shares in Ansell closed 1.75% or 22 cents down at $12.34. Volumes traded were at 476,625, lower than its daily average of 762,332.
