Fresenius Medical Care delivers 18% earnings growth in 2024 and continues the acceleration momentum into 2025

Core Insights - Fresenius Medical Care has successfully met the upper end of its 2024 profit growth target, raising its FME25 savings target from EUR 650 million to EUR 750 million, demonstrating effective execution of its strategic turnaround plan [1][4][5] - The company reported a positive operating income margin trend towards its 2025 targets, with both business segments contributing positively [1][6] - The Care Delivery segment achieved positive underlying U.S. same market treatment growth for the second consecutive quarter, while Care Enablement experienced accelerated volume growth [1][6] Financial Performance - In Q4 2024, revenue increased by 2% to EUR 5,085 million, while full-year revenue decreased by 1% to EUR 19,336 million [9][15] - Operating income for Q4 2024 decreased by 39% to EUR 259 million, but increased by 2% for the full year to EUR 1,392 million [16][20] - Net income in Q4 2024 decreased by 64% to EUR 67 million, while full-year net income increased by 8% to EUR 538 million [21][22] Operational Efficiency - The FME25 transformation program delivered EUR 221 million in sustainable savings for 2024, exceeding the target of EUR 200 million, with total accumulated savings reaching EUR 567 million [5][6] - The company plans to incur one-time costs of EUR 700 million to EUR 750 million for the FME25 program [5] Portfolio Optimization - Fresenius Medical Care continued its portfolio optimization by exiting non-core assets, impacting revenue by EUR 306 million and operating income by EUR 288 million in 2024 [7][15] - The divestitures included 230 facilities and approximately 33,800 dialysis patients, with the proceeds used to improve the leverage ratio [7][8] Capital Allocation - Free cash flow increased by 25% to EUR 599 million in Q4 2024, while full-year free cash flow decreased by 13% to EUR 1,701 million [25][24] - The net financial debt was reduced by 9% to EUR 9.8 billion, with a net leverage ratio improvement from 3.2x to 2.9x [8][25] Outlook - For 2025, Fresenius Medical Care expects revenue growth to be positive to a low-single digit percentage rate, with operating income growth projected at a high-teens to high-twenties percentage rate [27]