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LONDON (Alliance News) - Private healthcare company Spire Healthcare Group PLC on Friday cut its revenue guidance for 2015 on the back of short-term challenges it expects to face in NHS activity in the second half, as the group's pretax profit and revenue both grew in the first half.
FTSE 250-listed Spire said it now expects flat revenue in the second half of 2015, compared to previous predictions for low single-digit growth, due to a slowdown in the flow of cases from the NHS to the independent sector in recent weeks. The cut to the revenue guidance means the group now expects its revenue and earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation growth to be 4% to 6% for the full year.
"Because of recent actions taken in response to the NHS Trusts' estimate of aggregate deficits for 2015/16, we recognise that there may be some near-term weakness in NHS demand over the remainder of this financial year," said Rob Roger, Spire's chief executive.
The downgrade to its guidance came as Spire said it turned to a pretax profit in the first half of the year to the end of June, generating a GBP30.8 million profit, compared to a GBP7.8 million loss a year earlier due to higher financing costs.
Revenue came in at GBP449.8 million, up from GBP417.2 million a year earlier, as the group said it saw growth across its payor groups in the half, with in-patient and daycase discharges rising by 8.0% and its theatre utilisation rising to 65% from 64% a year earlier.
The group said the construction of its cancer radiotherapy centre next to Baddow Hospital in Essex is well underway, while construction work has also started on a six operating theatre block at St Anthony's Hospital and work has started on Spire's new hospitals in Manchester and Nottingham.
The group added it will pay its maiden interim dividend of 1.3 pence per share, having floated in London in June last year.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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