I am new to watching Smith & Nephew and need some help understanding their inventory. Looks like they have $971M in inventory for a company that does about $3.6B in annual sales. That seems like a lot.

It also seems to have taken a significant step up during Q1 of '07 from around $630M to $830M range. What in the world added $200M to their inventory (33%) in one quarter?

Then since, Q2 of '07 it has been on a somewhat "smooth" rise to what is now $971M, another $140M growth.

Can you help me understand what is going on?

Thank you.