Phonak triples first half profit

Production work at Phonak's plant in Staefa Keystone

The medical technology company, Phonak, said on Thursday it expected higher sales and profits for the full year after first-half net profit tripled.

The company said it expected full-year sales of SFr450 million ($249 million) against SFr314 million in the previous year. The net profit margin is expected to increase by about 14 per cent versus last year’s figure of 10.8 per cent.

Phonak’s first half profit to the end of September was SFr34 million compared to SFr11.2 million for the same period last year. It said the improvement was almost wholly attributable to its new digital hearing aid, Claro.

Claro accounted for about a third of Phonak’s first half-sales. It was not on the market last year.

Recently, Phonak announced that it is to acquire its Canadian competitor, Unitron. When the deal goes through at the beginning of next year, Phonak will leap into second place worldwide as a producer of hearing devices.

swissinfo