With sales increasing by 9% and net income rising by 14%, 2008 was an excellent year for Fresenius Medical Care. Operating performance in dialysis care was robust, while dialysis product sales achieved significant growth.
Fresenius Medical Care is the world’s leading provider of dialysis products and dialysis care for patients with chronic kidney failure. In 2008, we treated 184,086 patients at 2,388 dialysis clinics worldwide. The number of treatments increased by 5% to 27.9 million. We market our comprehensive range of products in more than 100 countries. A global production network provides reliable patient care at any time. Fresenius Medical Care’s largest plants are in the United States, Germany, and Japan.
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
In 2008, sales increased by 9% to US$ 10,612 million (2007: US$ 9,720 million). This was driven by excellent organic growth of 7%. Currency translation had a positive effect of 1%. In constant currency, sales increased by 8%. Fresenius Medical Care generated 66% of its sales in North America, 24% in Europe, and 10% in the rest of the world.
Dialysis care accounted for 73% of sales and dialysis products for 27%. Revenues from dialysis care increased by 7% to US$ 7,737 million (2007: US$ 7,213 million). Sales of dialysis products grew by 15% to US$ 2,875 million (2007: US$ 2,507 million).
EBIT rose by 6% to US$ 1,672 million (2007: US$ 1,580 million) resulting in an EBIT margin of 15.8% (2007: 16.3%). The margin reduction mainly reflected higher personnel expenses, and other operating and material costs, as well as lower utilization levels and reduced reimbursement rates for EPO and increased costs for the anticoagulant Heparin in North America. The margins were also influenced by a stronger growth of the dialysis services business outside North America (International segment) coupled with start-up costs for new clinics and unfavorable currency effects. Both segments experienced higher depreciation expense in 2008 compared to 2007 as a result of the expansion of production capacities. These effects were partially offset by increases in commercial payor revenue rates, higher volumes of products sold and other operational improvements.
Net income increased by 14% to US$ 818 million (2007: US$ 717 million).
| FRESENIUS MEDICAL CARE BY REGION | |||||
| North America | Europe | Latin America | Asia-Pacific | Total | |
| Sales (in million US$) | 7,005 | 2,510 | 491 | 606 | 10,612 |
|
Dialysis clinics (December 31) |
1,686 | 400 | 177 | 125 | 2,388 |
|
Dialysis patients (December 31) |
125,857 | 29,841 | 19,230 | 9,158 | 184,086 |
| Treatments (in million) | 19.1 | 4.5 | 2.9 | 1.4 | 27.9 |
