Continued soft demand for dental implants in the U.S. and other key markets put a damper on Straumann's 2009 revenues. Sales for fiscal 2009 (end-December 31) were 736 million Swiss francs ($690 million U.S.), a 5% decline over sales of 779 million Swiss francs ($730 million) for 2008.
Net profit, however, was significantly higher year over year -- 146 million Swiss francs ($137 million) in 2009, compared to 8 million Swiss francs ($7.5 million) in 2008. The company attributed the increase in net profits to a shift in its strategic focus at the beginning of 2009 from growth to cost management, including reductions in implant production throughout most of the year.
"The global rise in unemployment together with weak consumer confidence, shrinking household incomes, diminishing pension funds, falling real estate values, and reduced access to credit all contributed to a reduction in patient flow at dental practices," said Rudolph Maag, chairman of the board, and Gilbert Achermann, president and CEO, in a letter to shareholders. "Throughout the year, a large proportion of patients postponed 'elective' procedures, while others even interrupted ongoing treatments. With patient flow slowing in dental practices, some dentists stopped referring patients for implant procedures in order to treat them in their own practices with tooth-borne crowns and bridges."
At the same time, they added, reduced access to credit led to hesitancy among dental laboratories to invest in equipment such as CAD/CAM scanners, an important component of Straumann's prosthetics business. "In these exceptional circumstances, the global markets for replacement, restorative and regenerative dentistry posted their first-ever year-on-year contraction," they noted.
Straumann believes the market will be flat or grow at a low-single-digit pace in 2010, Achermann said in a conference call with analysts on February 16. Several analysts had previously predicted the sector would grow in the mid-digit range, according to a story by Reuters.
Straumann -- which controls about 19% of the dental implant market, Reuters noted -- expects to see the market return to high-single-digit growth next year and double-digit growth in 2012, Achermann said.
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