20th Aug 2018 08:10
LONDON (Alliance News) - NMC Health PLC said Monday its first-year performance was in line with its management's expectation, as it continues to deliver against its acquisition strategy.
The FTSE 100 stock was trading up 3.3% at 4,192.00 pence early Monday morning.
For the six months to June 30, the United Arab Emirates-focused private hospital operator posted pretax profit up 20% year-on-year to USD118.7 million compared to USD99.3 million. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation jumped 32% to USD225.5 million from USD170.7 million a year prior.
Revenue rose by 20% to USD932.0 million from USD775.2 million.
NMC said its core Healthcare division continued to drive growth, with revenue up 26% to USD706.0 million and Ebitda up 34% to USD226.8 million.
Healthcare division patients increased by 20% year-on-year to 3.4 million with hospital bed occupancy rates reaching 70%.
The Distribution division continued to "perform well" NMC said, with total Stock Keeping Units up to 113,500 from 108,000 a year ago. Revenue in the division rose 8.4% to USD255.0 million and Ebitda stood at USD30.3 million.
"The first half of 2018 saw NMC continue to demonstrate strong organic growth alongside complementary acquisitions, resulting in the realisation of improved financial results which more fully reflect the effect of previous integration and revenue enhancing activities," Chief Executive Officer Prasanth Manghat said.
NMC did not propose an interim dividend stating that "any dividend for 2018 financial year will be paid fully as a final dividend". It added that it remains committed to a dividend pay-out of 20 to 30% of its profit.
The company said first-half performance was in line with its expectations, and the board maintains a positive outlook for the second half of the year. It added that, "given the positive developments", it is currently in the process of reviewing its guidance for 2018. This currently is for revenue to rise 22%, with Ebitda of around USD465 million.
"We see continuing good growth potential across different parts of the group in 2019 and beyond and remain confident in the long-term prospects of the business as we enter the second half of 2018," Manghat added.
NMC also said Monday it made "significant progress" against an acquisition strategy announced last December.
During the half-year, NMC acquired 70% of CosmeSurge, a cosmetics business operating in the Gulf Cooperation Council and the remaining stake in Fakih IVF.
Manghat said: "In December 2017, we set out our new strategy to drive future growth by focusing on leveraging our healthcare services expertise to increase capacity, growing our capabilities and expanding across multiple geographies.
"We continue to expand into new geographies, with our footprint now spread across 17 countries. Despite the passage of a relatively short time period since outlining the enhanced strategy, we have made substantial progress across all facets. We continue to strengthen NMC's reputation as a provider of world class services for our patients and are cementing our position as a leading global healthcare operator."
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