International healthcare services provider UDG Healthcare has reported a 24% increase in pre-tax profits for the year to the end of September, after a year of substantial financial and strategic progress.
UDG said its pre-tax profits of the year came in at €107.1m, while annual revenues rose by 10% to €2.329 billion as the company benefited from strong underlying growth and currency movements.
The company said it was proposing to increase its final dividend by 9% to 8.1 cent , which would give a full year dividend of 11 cent per share, up 9% on the same time last year.
It said that the pending sale of its United Drug Supply Chain business and MASTA to McKesson Corporation will accelerate its strategic transformation to focus on higher growth and higher margin areas.
"We continue to experience growing demand for our specialist services from our healthcare industry clients. The group has considerable long-term financing facilities available and good internally generated cash flows to support our growth objectives. We remain very positive about our long-term growth prospects," commented UDG's chief executive Liam FitzGerald.
UDG Healthcare operates across three divisions - Ashfield Commercial and Medical Services, Sharp Packaging Services and Supply Chain Services.
Annual revenues in its Ashfield division rose by 21% to €599.4m while operating profits jumped by 38% to €59.9m. UDG said the business was boosted by acquisitions and favourable currency movements during the year.
Its UK revenues rose by 20% while profits increased by 59% mainly due to the impact of the purchase of two companies - Knowledgepoint360 and Galliard.
North American revenues were up 32% and profits rose by 11%, while the European business saw revenues up by 8% while operating profits increased by 35%.
Total revenues at UDG's Sharp Packaging Services division rose by 37% to €244.1m while operating profits increased by 55% to €29.6m - again driven by favourable currency movements.
US revenues in the division were up 40% while profits of €29.9m were 57% ahead of last year. Sharp Europe saw revenue growth of 27% and a €0.3m operating loss for the 12 month period.
Operating profits at the company's Supply Chain Services division fell by 23% to €30.8m, while revenue inched 2% higher to €1.485 billion as disposals and market conditions impacted its overall financial performance.
