Invacare sees ‘high demand’ for oxygen concentrators

ELYRIA, Ohio – Invacare saw a 72.2% increase in respiratory sales for the fourth quarter in North America and a 40.1% increase for 2020 due to increased demand for oxygen concentrators during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Invacare reported $18.7 million in net sales for respiratory products in the fourth quarter and $72.3 million for 2020. 

“We see high demand for all modalities of oxygen increasing,” said Matthew Monaghan, chairman, president and CEO during a Feb. 11 conference call to discuss the company’s fourth quarter and year-end financial results. “We even see increases in portable now because, at the margins, there are some people who only need a little bit of oxygen. We see an uplift in all modalities that we have, but most strongly in stationary.” 

Invacare also saw an 84.9% increase in respiratory sales for the fourth quarter in Europe and a 28.7% increase for 2020. 

The increase in respiratory sales helped to lift Invacare’s North America business unit to $86.7 million in net sales for the fourth quarter, a 1.7% increase compared to the same period in 2019. 

“After years of improvements, North America returned to profitability with a more than $17 million increase in operating income and modest growth in constant currency net sales,” Monaghan said.  

Respiratory sales in North America were offset by a 15.1% decrease in mobility and seating sales for the fourth quarter and 9.8% decrease for 2020. Mobility and seating sales, however, grew sequentially by 3.3% from the third to fourth quarter. 

“The fourth quarter wasn’t as strong a pandemic relief as we had maybe thought it could be, but we were pleased with the strong sales through the end of the year and continued strong demand into this year,” Monaghan said. 

Other highlights from the call: 

Invacare is in final pre-market launch for a new concentrator. “We think the pandemic demand will continue for some time and this new system provides great customer benefits, including total cost of ownership benefits, and great consumer benefits, (which) will make this an exciting segment for us for a long time,” Monaghan said. 

The company has completed its IT infrastructure improvements, and it expects to benefit from lower cost of transactions and more adept inventory management. 

Monaghan noted the company is shifting to growth mode. “It is a shift as our organization shifts away from focusing on the transformation or the turnaround that we’ve been talking about for five or eight years and talking about growth,” he said. “We have a phenomenal portfolio of products that should give our sales team a lot of confidence to engage with customers and give customers a lot of curiosity to engage with us.”