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STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish medical technology group Getinge (ST:GETIb) trimmed its sales growth forecast for the year and said its short-term earnings outlook remained uncertain as it posted third-quarter core profit below analyst forecasts on Thursday.
The company, whose competitors include U.S. medical technology groups Stryker (N:SYK), Medtronic (N:MDT), and Steris (N:STE), said demand in emerging markets was improving less than expected while the recovery in developed markets was slow.
"Based on this, it is anticipated that the organic invoicing growth will fall somewhat short of the volume forecast stated in the six-month report," it said in a statement, referring to an earlier forecast for like-for-like sales to grow around 4 percent in 2014.
Getinge has been mired in uncertainty over potential actions by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration after inspections by the regulatory body forced it to spend heavily to improve manufacturing quality controls in its biggest business area.
In late May, Getinge raised the possibility of fines or restrictions on what kind of products it can sell in the United States and cancelled an investor day on short notice because of higher uncertainty over the financial impact of the FDA issues.
The maker of surgical theatre equipment such as products for heart surgery and anaesthesia gave no firm news on the dialogue with the FDA in the report.
Earnings before interest, taxes, amortisation and restructuring costs rose to 920 million Swedish crowns (80.23 million pounds) from a year-earlier 907 million. The mean forecast in a Reuters poll of analysts was for 1.02 billion.
Order intake was 6.41 billion crowns, in line with the average forecast of 6.39 billion in the Reuters poll, and declined by 0.2 percent on a like-for-like basis in the quarter.
(Reporting by Sven Nordenstam, editing by Alistair Scrutton)