Align Technology increases Invisalign shipments
At Align, owner of exocad and manufacturer of Invisalign, revenue for the first quarter reached US$1.04 billion (€905.59 million*), a year-on-year increase of 6.2%. The company banked US$856 million from sales of aligners, up by 7.4%, and US$184 million in revenue from imaging systems and CAD/CAM services, a marginal increase of 0.9%.
A chief measure of Align’s performance is the volume of aligners it ships, and this totalled 685,700 cases during the period, up by 6.7% year on year. The volume increase was supported by sales growth in the EMEA, Asia-Pacific and Latin America regions. President and CEO Joseph M. Hogan said in the company’s earnings call that shipments in North America were stable, but represented a modest year-on-year decline. Hogan, who reported mixed market conditions in the region in the middle of last year, said that conditions had improved in Canada and remained challenging in the US.
A total of 449,000 adults worldwide were treated with Invisalign during the period, up 7.8% year-on-year. Aligner therapy in younger patients is a crucial growth area for Align, and 237,000 teenagers and children began Invisalign treatment during the first quarter. This represented an increase of 4.8%, supported by higher demand in China and Latin America and by increasing adoption of Invisalign First, Invisalign treatment employing mandibular advancement with occlusal blocks, and the Invisalign Palatal Expander.
During the period, Align’s dental support organisation (DSO) business continued to contribute to the company’s growth. DSO aligner volumes increased by double digits, accounting for around 25% of global volumes. Furthermore, Hogan said: “We remain encouraged by how naturally our digital platform fits with DSO operating models.” He added that this closer integration supported increased Invisalign adoption and greater utilisation of iTero intra-oral scanners.
Commenting on the impact of the war in the Middle East on the company’s operations, CFO John F. Morici told analysts that the overall impact on EMEA sales had been immaterial. He said that customers in the region had reported lower patient traffic and therapy conversion rates and that the company was taking a prudent approach by assuming that the conflict would have some effect on second-quarter results.
Morici said: “Beyond the second quarter, it becomes increasingly difficult to predict how the conflict in the Middle East will affect our business, particularly in the event of further escalation, sustained constraints on oil and gas supplies, or broader softening in consumer and patient sentiment.”
