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| Smiths Medical CEO Jeff McCaulley |
Smiths Medical has faced its fair share of buyout rumors, with lagging revenues for its infusion pump business leaving some wondering when the company would close up shop. But the Minnesota devicemaker is undergoing a transformation under the stewardship of new CEO Jeff McCaulley, shrugging off talk of M&A as it revives its flagging fortunes.
Things have been slowly improving for Smiths since the company brought on McCaulley in March 2014, with the company recently expanding its R&D budget and moving to a new HQ to accommodate growth. While a sale isn't out of the question now, Smiths Medical will most likely forge ahead as a buyer, rather than a seller, McCaulley told the StarTribune.
"This is a great company that I'm sure is attractive to other companies," he said, as quoted by the StarTribune. "I certainly intend to continue to build a high-performance company and ultimately be more of a consolidator than consolidated, and I think there are great opportunities for us to grow this business organically and inorganically."
Smiths last week reported sales of $1.27 billion for the year ending in July with 4% organic revenue growth--its best performance in nearly a decade, the StarTribune notes. And its medical-device division contributed 29% to that haul, signaling promising prospects in the year to come. "This is a very important part of the Smiths portfolio, and we are getting a lot of investment," McCaulley told the newspaper.
Meanwhile, the company is working hard to keep up the positive momentum. The Minnesota devicemaker posted 214 jobs between April 1 and June 30 of this year, according to research cited by the StarTribune, beefing up its employee base as it prepares to dial up R&D. Smiths is also building its portfolio, churning out a range of products including devices for in vitro fertilization and tracheostomy tubes designed for children.
- read the StarTribune story