US healthcare company Abbott (NYSE: ABT) has released its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2023. The company’s Q4 global sales increased by 2.1% year-on-year (YOY) in constant currency terms to USD 10.24 billion, although for the full year, sales declined by 6.2% to USD 40.1 billion. Excluding the impact of COVID-19-related sales, particularly in diagnostics, Abbott’s Q4 sales growth reached 11.0%, and 11.6% for the entire year.
In terms of Q4 performance by business unit, Nutrition sales rose by 13.9% to USD 2.04 billion, Diagnostics sales decreased by 22.3% YOY to USD 2.53 billion, and Established Pharmaceuticals recorded an 8.8% Q4 growth to USD 1.22 billion. Medical Devices emerged as the strongest performer with a 15.4% Q4 expansion, generating revenues of USD 4.44 billion. The FreeStyle Libre blood glucose monitor product was the leading contributor, with sales increasing by 25.5% YOY to USD 1.4 billion.
CEO Robert Ford highlighted China’s significant contribution to the electrophysiology segment for medical devices during the earnings conference call. As mentioned in previous quarterly results announcements, Abbott views China’s volume-based procurement (VBP) program for medical devices positively, and this sentiment held true for 2023: “There were some price challenges throughout the year with VBP, but the volume we picked up, the market share we picked up, more than offset that.”- Flcube.com
