Cochlear Holds FY27 Profit Guidance of $330M to $350M

Cochlear (ASX:COH) used its AGM to restate FY27 profit guidance after a weaker FY26 and to set out how it plans to lift adult implant referrals.

The company continues to expect FY27 underlying net profit of $330 million to $350 million, in line with the guidance provided in August. FY26 sales revenue increased 2% in constant currency to $2.3 billion and underlying net profit was $322 million, which the CEO said was below the expectations set at the start of the year but at the upper end of the revised guidance provided in April. The Chair cited healthcare capacity constraints and industrial action in Europe, insurance delays in the US, reimbursement changes in China, disruption in the Middle East and foreign exchange headwinds. The company says it has lowered fixed costs as a share of revenue. Clinical practice guidelines are being implemented across 25 countries, and direct-to-professional referral capability is being expanded in the US, Germany, the UK and Australia. By June, the Nexa implant represented more than 95% of implant sales in developed markets, with an average 3% price increase. Pivotal studies for the drug-eluting electrode are complete, and recruitment has finished for the pivotal studies of the totally implantable cochlear implant. Professor Ian Meredith AM joins the Board on 1 December.

Drug-eluting electrode results are still being analysed and the next regulatory steps are being planned. The totally implantable implant studies have not reported, and the addresses give no FY27 revenue figure.