Straumann sees North America stabilising, China demand improving after Q3 beat

By Cian Muenster and Isabela Kruczynska

Oct 28 (Reuters) - Swiss dental implants maker Straumann reported third-quarter sales slightly above expectations on Wednesday, helped by new product launches and growth across its main regions.

Investors are closely watching Straumann's performance in North America, where high interest rates and inflation have weighed on the dental market, and in China, where uncertainty around the next round of the country's volume-based procurement programme has clouded demand.

The group reported third-quarter revenue of 667.1 million Swiss francs ($805.1 million), compared with a Vara consensus of 662.3 million.

North American sales grew 7.5% organically in the July-September period, compared with 5.7% growth a year ago, despite continued pressure from tariffs.

CEO Guillaume Daniellot told Reuters that high interest rates were still weighing on patient demand, but said market conditions had stabilised compared with previous quarters.

"We are able ... to grow still pretty significantly thanks to the new technology that we have launched," Daniellot said, pointing to new scanner technology and the Straumann iEXCEL implant system.

Asia-Pacific sales rose 10.3%, compared to last year's 3.2% growth, with China returning to growth after several quarters affected by uncertainty around Beijing's volume-based procurement programme.

Daniellot said Chinese demand had improved as patients increasingly went ahead with treatments they had postponed while waiting for the next procurement round. He now expects the next phase of the programme to start around early 2027, later than previously anticipated, although authorities have not provided an official timetable.

The company confirmed its full-year outlook, saying it did not expect any disruption to business trends in the final quarter.

Daniellot is due to hand over as CEO to Christopher Norbye on Dec. 1.

($1 = 0.8286 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by Cian Muenster and Isabela Kruczynska; editing by Bartosz Dabrowski)