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(Alliance News) - UK private hospital operator Spire Healthcare Group PLC on Thursday said it has appointed Ian Cheshire as its new chair, while also saying it fell into loss in 2020 as the need to treat Covid-19 patients resulted in the postponement of elective surgical procedures.
Spire operates 39 private hospitals and 8 clinics across England, Wales and Scotland.
Spire said Cheshire, the former chief executive of DIY-store chain Kingfisher PLC, will join the board immediately as chair-designate and take over the chair from retiring Garry Watts at the May 13 annual general meeting.
Cheshire recently stepped down as chair of Barclays UK, the ring-fenced retail and business bank of Barclays PLC. He remains a director of Barclays Bank PLC and of telecommunications provider BT Group PLC.
Spire reported revenue of GBP919.9 million for 2020, down 6.2% from GBP980.8 million 2019. It swung to a pretax loss of GBP231.0 million from a profit of GBP9.6 million.
Spire took a GBP200 million write down of goodwill in first half of 2020, saying this was primarily related to historical balances created in 2007 and 2008. On an adjusted basis, Spire still was in loss by GBP18.5 million, swung from an adjust pretax profit of GBP12.8 million in 2019.
Amid the loss, the company declared no dividend for 2020.
Spire said trading in January and February was in line with board expectations, although with a different mix of work than normal due to Covid-19 and lockdowns.
"Underlying trends remain positive with private enquiries above prior year, a waiting list of private surgery and significant national unmet demand for both NHS and private diagnostics and procedures," Spire said, adding it is "cautiously optimistic" that trading will return to 2019 levels in 2021.
On January 1, Spire entered a new contract with the UK National Health Service that is volume-based, rather than cost-based. Early that month, NHS England triggered the surge clause in the agreement as Covid-19 infections rates rose.
Spire shares were down 1.7% at 153.82 pence in London Thursday morning.
By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com
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