Pacemaker market boosts Medtronic

Medtronic Inc, the world’s biggest maker of heart-rhythm devices, said fiscal third-quarter profit increased 1.2% as rising global demand for pacemakers eased a slump in sales of defibrillators and spinal products.

Net income in the three months ended Jan 27 rose to $935m (€711m), or 88 cents a share, from $924m, or 86 cents, a year earlier, the Minneapolis-based company said yesterday. Profit, excluding one-time items, was 84 cents a share, matching the average of 26 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Medtronic struggled for the past 18 months with sluggish growth of existing products and falling pretax income, even as it introduced a raft of new devices for the spine, bowel and heart, said Michael Weinstein, a JPMorgan Chase & Co analyst in New York. Revenue of $3.92bn for the third quarter was $91m below estimates, he said in a note to clients. The company employs 2,000 people in Ireland, with most of those working at the state-of-the-art facility in Galway.