LONDON, June 29, 2026, 13:06 BST
- Smith & Nephew edged up 0.44% to 1,143.5p as of 12:51 BST. The FTSE 100 (INDEXFTSE:UKX) traded lower earlier in the London session.
- Cevian now reports 13.056468% voting rights, or 110.5 million votes, up from 12.235936%.
- Smith & Nephew repurchased 9.08 million shares for $136.9 million since May 8, or about 1.07% of its current voting stock.
- Smith & Nephew will report its second-quarter and first-half numbers after the close on Aug. 4. This follows a soft first quarter in U.S. knees.
Smith & Nephew plc (LON:SN) inched up 0.44% to 1,143.5p as of 12:51 BST on Monday, according to LSEG figures from Investors Chronicle. Shares are up just 3.11% over the last year—slightly higher, but not much for a FTSE 100 healthcare name. The stock holds a mixed outlook: three buys, four outperform calls, and 11 holds as of June 25.
The headline story isn’t just today’s share price. The focus is on the standoff between an activist stake and the company’s buyback program. Cevian Capital II GP Limited told Smith & Nephew it passed a new mark on June 23, bringing its voting rights to 13.056468%, or 110,517,469 votes, all direct—no financial instruments involved.
Smith & Nephew said June 26 it picked up 1.42 million shares between June 19 and June 25, paying a volume-weighted average of £11.3260. Since May 8, the company has bought 9.08 million shares for $136.9 million as part of the initial $250 million tranche of its $500 million buyback plan.
| Capital item | Latest figure | Why investors care |
|---|---|---|
| Cevian voting rights | 110.5 mln shares / 13.056468% | Activist footprint keeps getting bigger |
| Shares bought since May 8 | 9.08 mln | That’s about 1.07% of the current vote |
| Cevian stake vs buyback shares | 12.2 times | The buyback isn’t denting Cevian’s size |
| Cash spent so far | $136.9 mln | Spent 54.7% of the first tranche, or 27.4% of the $500 mln program |
The difference is key. The buyback gives a lift to earnings per share and pulls in some stock, but hasn’t trimmed much of the voting pool versus Cevian’s stake. Smith & Nephew’s June 26 update said there are now 845.0 million voting shares, after accounting for treasury shares.
Market is still giving most of the discount to execution risk. Analysts in Investors Chronicle’s LSEG data have a median 12-month target of 1,352.01p, or about 18.75% higher than the latest price in their model. The lowest target, 1,230.07p, stays above that last price.
| Market marker | Latest |
|---|---|
| Share price | 1,143.5p |
| Day change | up 5.0p, or 0.44% |
| Shares traded | 2.11 mln |
| Median 12-month target | 1,352.01p |
| Low / high target | 1,230.07p to 1,599.69p |
The stock hasn’t made a run at that median target, likely due to the Q1 numbers. Smith & Nephew posted revenue of $1.50 billion for the first quarter, up 3.1% underlying, but U.S. knee implants dropped 10.3%. Orthopaedics was up just 0.8%. Sports Medicine & ENT rose 6.7%.
| Q1 business line | Revenue | Underlying growth |
|---|---|---|
| Sports Medicine & ENT | $491 mln | up 6.7% |
| Advanced Wound Management | $411 mln | up 2.2% |
| Orthopaedics | $599 mln | up 0.8% |
| U.S. Knee Implants | not split out | down 10.3% |
Chief Executive Deepak Nath said in May the first quarter was “in line with our expectations,” and Sports Medicine is now bigger than Orthopaedic Reconstruction and Robotics. Smith & Nephew kept its 2026 guidance for around 6% underlying revenue growth, about 8% organic trading profit growth, free cash flow of about $800 million, and adjusted return on invested capital still above 10%, all excluding the Integrity Orthopaedics impact. Smith & Nephew
The guidance leans on heavier gains in the second half. Reuters said in May that CFO John Rogers told investors first-half sales growth should come in at about 3.5%, below the roughly 4.2% consensus, but then pick up to around 8% for the second half. ODDO BHF analyst Oliver Metzger told Reuters “a back-end phasing is often not so attractive for investors.” Reuters
Smith & Nephew said it plans to return over $835 million to shareholders in the next 12 months through a full $500 million buyback and regular dividends. That works out to about 6.3% of its market cap as of the May 1 close. The company also said it expects 2026 profit to drop by around $60 million due to tariffs and take a $20 million to $40 million hit from the U.S. reimbursement reset for skin substitutes.
August’s report will show if capital return has just papered over or delayed the knee turnaround. Smith & Nephew expects to post second-quarter and first-half numbers on Aug. 4, and the company said it looks for better revenue and profit growth in the second half.
