4th Nov 2014 17:15
LONDON (Alliance News) - Health services company Synergy Health PLC Tuesday posted a rise in pretax profit for the half year to September 28, and said that its recommended takeover offer from Steris Corp will lead to an "even stronger combined group."
Synergy Health recommended a USD1.9 billion cash and shares takeover offer from Steris in October.
In light of its recommended offer from Steris, the company has opted not to pay an interim dividend, however it will "revisit this recommendation" if the transaction does not go through. In the previous year the company had posted an interim dividend of 8.57 pence.
Synergy Health posted a pretax profit of GBP24.7 million for the first half of its financial year, up from GBP21.4 million a year earlier, as revenue rose 2.8% to GBP197.5 million from GBP192.1 million. At constant currency, revenue grew 7.4%.
Revenue rose 11.0% in its Applied Sterilisation Technologies business as volumes improved, and it recovered in Costa Rica. The company completed its acquisition of Bioster Group, which it said has extended its network in Italy and Eastern Europe.
Hospital Sterilisation Services revenue rose 1.9% as new contracts more than offset its exit from a legacy single use product distribution businesses in the US.
Revenue in its linen business fell to GBP47.5 million from GBP50.4 million, although it said it was seeing increasing stability in the market, and its UK linen business had performed strongly.
"The strong first half financial performance demonstrates our success in driving value-enhancing healthcare services for our customer base. The proposed combination with Steris will further drive uptake of our services delivering value for current and new customers," said Chief Executive Richard Steeves in a statement.
Shares in Synergy closed up 0.3% at 1,885.00 pence Tuesday.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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