FSNUF - Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA (FSNUF) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript
2024-02-21 13:41:02 ET
Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA (FSNUF)
Q4 2023 Results Conference Call
February 21, 2024 07:30 AM ET
Company Participants
Markus Georgi - Senior Vice President of Investor Relations
Michael Sen - Chief Executive Officer
Sara Hennicken - Chief Financial Officer
Conference Call Participants
Hassan Al-Wakeel - Barclays
Veronika Dubajova - Citi
Victoria Lambert - Berenberg
Oliver Reinberg - Kepler Chevreaux
James Vane-Tempest - Jefferies International Limited
Marianne Bulot - Bank of America
Robert Davies - Morgan Stanley
David Adlington - JPMorgan
Falko Friedrichs - Deutsche Bank
Oliver Metzger - ODDO
Christian Ehmann - Warburg Research
Presentation
Markus Georgi
Thank you very much. Good morning, good afternoon, everybody. Thank you for participating to our full year and Q4 '23 results. As always, with me on the call, Michael and Sara. Before we start, I would like drawing your attention to the cautionary language that is included in our safe harbor statement on Page 2 of today's presentation.
And with that, I will hand across to Michael.
Michael Sen
Thank you, Markus. Warm welcome, everybody. This is Michael. Sara and I will be reviewing the 2023 operational and financial highlights first, then we'll talk about our ambitions going forward. We'll touch on the next phase of future Fresenius and the value that we are generating in our operation.
Plenty of time for questions, of course, and then we'll take it from there. I'm very proud of our team and the achievements in 2023, a year, what we call structural progression, advancing patient care is our purpose at Fresenius. 12 months ago, we pledged to reset the company to ensure our ability to achieve exactly that mission. This meant added focus, more simplicity and transparency and delivery of better financial performance. In 2023, we delivered.
Kabi and Helios are at the core.
We've simplified structures removing unneeded and outmoded complexity. Everyone is pulling in the same direction. I'd call it actually, [indiscernible] plus, and you can see the results of our efforts in the numbers. Financially, a delivery to plan consistently quarter-by-quarter, we had a strong Q4 and delivered our outlook that was upgraded twice during the course of the year.
The operating cash flow development was very strong in Q4, helping us to delever faster than anticipated. All of this gives us a powerful platform to continue to build value in 2024 and beyond. We are looking to accelerate this year with ambitious expectations on revenue, earnings growth and debt reduction. On to one of my favorite slides. Focus on Helios and Kabi is really paying off with quarter-by-quarter, consistent, robust delivery.
Kabi with the 3 plus 1 strategy came out at the top end of the structural growth plan, consistent execution driven by strong market positions and the growth vectors. Helios just keeps delivering excellent finish to the year. Also here, revenue growth at the top end of the structural growth plan terrific set of hospital and clinical assets that are at the top of their game, really reliable. And then we've prescribed some tough medicine for VAMED and it's working.
The second consecutive quarter in black, geared in the right direction.
Slide 6, you can see here on the left side, what we achieved in 2023. Simplification, lower cost focus and stronger and more dedicated management team, significant progress on all fronts of the future Fresenius agenda. We overdelivered on cost savings, reflecting the revised agility within the group to drive what we call from the very beginning, self-help. And we continue to move forward. We have upped the cost savings target for 2024 to substantially improve our structural productivity....
Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA (FSNUF) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript