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(Alliance News) - Hospital group Spire Healthcare Group PLC on Monday reiterated its annual guidance as it swung to profit in the first half of 2019, crediting self-help.
London-listed shares in Spire were down 1.9% at 122.84 pence each in morning trade.
"This was a good performance with clear signs of our strategic and operational initiatives bearing fruit. We promised 2019 would be a year of stabilisation with revenue growth, continued quality improvement, cash generation and net debt reduction. All have been achieved in first half, with good operating profit performance," said Spire Chief Executive Justin Ash.
For the half-year ended June 30, the company recorded pretax profit of GBP9.6 million versus a pretax loss of GBP2.2 million a year before. Stripping out exceptional items, pretax profit fell 24% year-on-year to GBP10 million.
First half revenue was up 3.4% to GBP491.6 million from GBP475.6 million last year. Revenue from the private medical insurance division increased 5.1% year-on-year to GBP247.0 million, while the self-pay business recorded a 1.4% revenue rise to GBP88.6 million.
"We saw growth in both private insurance and self-pay, with a particularly strong result in private insurance reflecting rising consumer awareness following our marketing campaigns. NHS revenue in the period also outperformed expectations as we worked in close partnership with our local trusts and Clinical Commissioning Groups to selectively open new services that respond to their changing needs. We continue to develop our private revenue streams in key areas such as oncology, including working towards a partnership with GenesisCare to create a national end-to-end private cancer treatment pathway," said Ash.
Spire declared an interim dividend of 1.3 pence, unchanged from last year.
The company said its full-year guidance is reiterated. It predicted continued revenue growth in 2019, offset by product mix effects and planned investments.
With Spire's 2018 results in February, Ash had said: "We are taking a measured approach to 2019, which will be a year of consolidation. We expect modest revenue growth, and will see the full year effect of investments coming through, whilst we will continue to achieve further efficiencies. We are focused on cash generation and debt reduction, placing Spire in a strong position for future [earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation] growth."
