(Reuters) -Smith + Nephew, UK’s largest medical products maker, cut its annual underlying revenue growth forecast on Thursday, primarily hurt by its weaker-than-expected performance in China.
Lower end-customer demand across its surgical, sports medicine and orthopaedics businesses in China is likely to continue into the next year, the firm said.
It expects annual underlying revenue growth of 4.5%, down from an earlier forecast of 5%-6%.
“In Sports Medicine, we saw the expected price impact of the Volume Based Procurement (VBP) programme, but with the related volume benefits yet to come through,” Smith+ Nephew said.
China’s VBP programme is a bulk-buy drug procurement scheme aimed at cutting prices for medical products in the country.
Smith+ Nephew had earlier said that the impact of the scheme would likely ease next year.
The British firm makes products including orthopaedic implants and prosthetics and wound dressings.
(Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil and Prerna Bedi in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)
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