Invacare reports sales decrease in Q1

ELYRIA, Ohio - Invacare Holdings reported its predecessor, Invacare Corp., had net sales of $165.5 million for the first quarter 2023, a decrease of 17.7% compared to the same period last year. 

During the first quarter, Invacare announced that its U.S. entities, including Freedom Designs and Adaptive Switch Laboratories, had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. They emerged from bankruptcy on May 5. 

“Year-to-date, we've made tremendous strides in all aspects of the company’s transformation plan,” said Geoff Purtill, president and CEO. “With Chapter 11 behind us, our focus is on driving operational excellence and delivering profitable long-term growth in our core lifestyle and mobility and seating product categories. This is a new beginning for the company and a great opportunity to redefine the business for the future and realize our long-term growth potential.” 

Constant currency net sales decreased 13.2%. Excluding the divestiture of respiratory products, constant currency net sales declined 7.7%, with the largest decline in North America as result of the bankruptcy filing and product discontinuation. Operating loss improved by 37% to $10.4 million compared to a loss of $16.6 million the previous year. Adjusted EBITDA loss improved by 30% to $6.2 million, compared to $8.6 million the previous year. 

Invacare says demand for lifestyle and mobility and seating products remained resilient on a global basis. In Europe, profitability improved more than 90% compared to Q122 driven by gross profit expansion.  

The company continues to execute strategic actions, including product line rationalization, footprint optimization, supply chain simplification, revisiting the IT infrastructure, and organization rightsizing.  

“Building on our May 5th emergence from bankruptcy, we continue to accelerate the execution of our transformation plan, which has yielded positive results in Europe, and I am optimistic it will generate similar improvements in North America,” said Purtill. “We look forward to providing updates on additional strategic actions as they are determined.”