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Smith & Nephew posts earnings beat on knee, wound care growth

LONDON, July 30 (Reuters) - Smith & Nephew Plc (LSE: SN.L - news) , Europe's biggest maker of artificial hips and knees, beat market expectations with a 6 percent rise in first-half trading profit after growth accelerated in its knees implant and advanced wound care businesses.

The British company reported trading profit of $512 million, 3 percent ahead of consensus, helped by a 70 point rise in its margin to 22.5 percent and 4 percent underlying revenue growth.

Chief Executive Olivier Bohuon said the group had made good progress towards its goal of increasing revenue faster this year than in 2014, when it rose 2 percent, and improving its margin.

"We have done, this quarter and for the first half of the year, exactly what we were expecting to do," he said on Thursday.

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Highlights included continuing improvement in advanced wound care, with revenue up 12 percent in the second quarter, double-digit growth in emerging markets, and a market-beating performance in knee implants, he said.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in Smith & Nephew were trading up 1.4 percent at 1,151 pence at 0741 GMT.

Analysts at Bank of America (Swiss: BAC.SW - news) -Merrill Lynch, who rate Smith & Nephew a "buy", said it was an "encouraging" first half for the company. It raised its 2015 and 2016 forecasts for earnings per shares by 1 percent to $0.86 and $0.98 respectively.

The company is buying Zimmer's U.S. Unicondylar knee implant business, an asset the U.S. company is being forced to divest to win approval for its takeover of Biomet inc.

Bohuon said the products fitted very well into its range, and the company had started selling them this month. (Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by David Clarke)