"Revenue growth was stronger than expected, driven by a stronger-than-expected result from both home and hospital and higher-than-expected hedging gains," Macquarie said in its report. F&P Healthcare competes with Resmed and Respironics and is currently engaged in a patent dispute with Resmed which generated $20.7m in legal costs in the 2017 year. According to Macquarie, F&P Healthcare has indicated selling, general and administrative (SG&A) spending - which includes litigation costs - will outpace sales growth by 4 per cent in the 2018 financial year. However, increased litigation costs in the short to the medium term offset those gains, which led to a downward revision in earnings. The firm expects F&P Healthcare to generate revenue of $1.03 billion in the 2018 financial year, $1.14b in FY19 and $1.26b in FY20.

Source: New Zealand Herald May 23, 2017 00:33 UTC