Paul Moraviec, the group chief executive of ConvaTec, has said the company had a “disappointing” overall performance in 2017, despite strong growth in a number of areas.

Insider Media reports revenues at ConvaTec, which produces products to manage chronic conditions, grew by 4.5% in the 2017 calendar year to $1.76bn (£1.25bn). However the company’s operating profit declined by 3.3% to $457m (£325m) when adjusted for increased investment in growth. The company also saw underlying gross margin decline by 0.7%.

Paul Moraviec said “Over the past 12 months we made good progress in a number of areas. Our Continence & Critical Care and Infusion Devices franchises delivered strong performances, and in Ostomy Care we saw good momentum in the first half in the US, Latin America, Japan and China. We also expanded our product portfolio with the launch of 16 new products and line extensions. We did encounter some significant challenges as well, which resulted in a disappointing performance overall in 2017. Performance was affected by supply constraints in both Advanced Wound Care and Ostomy Care, and the revenue contribution from new products was lower than anticipated. This reduced our full year organic revenue growth.

“Headwinds and cost increases more than offset the productivity improvements delivered, resulting in a negative impact on adjusted gross margin compared to our initial expectation of further improvement in 2017. While we have addressed the issues in manufacturing reported in October, there will be an ongoing impact on performance in 2018, especially in the first half. The fundamentals of our business remain strong. We expect to return to market levels of revenue growth in the medium-term and we continue to see further structural margin expansion opportunities, although progress will be delayed as we address the factors that negatively impacted on our 2017 performance. We are committed to delivering value to our shareholders whilst improving the lives of people across the world who live with chronic conditions.”