Cochlear, Ltd cut its full-year profit forecast due to a delay in surgeries at hospitals in China as the country confronts an outbreak of coronavirus, according to an article in Reuters.

Reuters reported as much as a 5.2% drop in shares after the announcement, to AUD $232 ($156 USD) at opening, before they “regained some ground to a 1.2% drop.”

“It has become clear that the coronavirus will impact the number of cochlear implant surgeries in Greater China, a top-five market for Cochlear,” Cochlear Chief Executive Dig Howitt said in a statement that was quoted in the article.

Cochlear cut its underlying profit forecast for fiscal 2020 to AUD $270 million-$290 million ($181 million-$194 million USD), from AUD $290 million-$300 million ($195 million-$201 million USD), according to Reuters.

Howitt noted a “similar trajectory” with the SARS epidemic in 2003, and was quoted as saying that the company, “is confident that many of the delayed surgeries will progress once hospitals resume normal operations.”

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Source: Reuters