Boston Scientific today reported higher-than-expected quarterly earnings on higher sales of its implantable devices that manage irregular heart rhythms.

The medical device maker said it had earned $108 million, or 8 cents a share, in the fourth quarter, compared with $60 million, or 4 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding acquisition, divestiture, litigation and restructuring charges, earnings were 21 cents a share. Sales rose 1 per cent to $1.84 billion.

The US group is one of the largest companies in Ireland, employing more than 4,500 people here. Its Irish operations represents almost 20 per cent of its global workforce of 24,000.

Analysts on average had expected a profit of 13 cents a share on sales of $1.83 billion.

Sales of cardiac rhythm management products, including pacemakers and implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) used to shock dangerously fast heartbeats back to normal rhythm, climbed 2 percent to $468 million in the fourth quarter.

Worldwide sales of interventional cardiology products, primarily stents that are inserted into clogged heart arteries to help prop them open, fell 6 percent to $500 million.

Boston Scientific forecast 2014 earnings of 75 cents to 80 cents a share, excluding special items, on revenue of $7.3 billion to $7.5 billion. Analysts on average were expecting a profit of 52 cents a share on revenue of $7.41 billion.

Boston Scientific’s shares, which more than doubled last year on anticipation of a recovery in the heart rhythm device market and enthusiasm about the company’s product pipeline, were down 0.8 per cent at $12.90 in trading before the market opened.

Reuters