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(Adds CEO comments on outlook from analyst call)
By Anait Miridzhanian and Anna Rzhevkina
Aug 12 (Reuters) - Swiss dental implant maker Straumann Holding AG said on Thursday it expected elevated consumer spending to last at least until the fourth quarter after it topped first-half growth forecasts and raised full-year sales outlook.
The dental care market has benefited from increased demand for speciality treatments such as implants as practices reopened following an easing of coronavirus-related lockdowns.
"Clinicians with whom we talked to were all very positive about agenda being booked and being fully booked," chief executive Guillaume Daniellot told analysts, adding he did not see any negative impact on demand at least until the fourth quarter.
The tailwind generated by consumer spending could potentially soften in the second half of the year but Straumann did not see any signs of it yet, Daniellot added.
The firm, which develops and supplies dental implants, prosthetics, biomaterials and digital solutions such as in-mouth scanners, raised its full-year organic revenue growth forecast to more than 30% from earlier mid-to-high 20s growth.
Jefferies analysts noted that raised guidance still seemed conservative as it implied a slowdown in sales momentum to 8% in the second half.
While Straumann shares were down 3.3% at 1109 GMT, J.P. Morgan analysts said they expect the softness to be relatively short-lived because of the company's broad strength both in terms of geography and segments.
The Basel-based firm reported organic revenue growth of 63.1% to 986 million Swiss francs ($1.07 billion) for the first half of the year, topping analysts' 59.5% forecast.
Straumann also announced plans to invest around 46 million Swiss francs ($49.89 million) to build a manufacturing facility in Mansfield, Texas. It is expected to begin operating in the second half of 2022 and create about 150 jobs.
($1 = 0.9220 Swiss francs) (Reporting by Anait Miridzhanian and Anna Rzhevkina; editing by Kim Coghill, Jason Neely and Tomasz Janowski)