LONDON (Alliance News) - UDG Healthcare PLC on Tuesday reported a dramatic drop in profit, hit by exceptional charges on goodwill impairments, losses on disposals, and restructuring costs, but still gave investors a dividend hike.
UDG shares fell 7.0% on Tuesday morning in response, trading at 577.00 pence each.
For the financial year that ended September 30, the healthcare services provider's pretax profit came in at just USD8.4 million, down from USD92.8 million a year prior.
On an adjusted basis, pretax profit was GBP105.4 million, up 14%. The adjusted figure excluded charges of USD97.1 million due mainly to impairment of goodwill and loss disposals related to its unit Aquilant which was sold in August.
Meanwhile, UDG revenue increased by 8% to USD1.32 billion from USD1.22 billion a year prior.
Despite the fall in headline profit, UDG proposed an increase of 20% in its total dividend to 16.0 cents per share, after declaring a final payout of 11.75 cents, up 21% on last year's 9.72 cents.
Chief Executive Officer Brendan McAtamney said: "Looking ahead to 2019, we expect continued progress, both organically and through further strategic acquisitions.
"We expect good underlying profit growth in both [divisions] Ashfield Communications & Advisory and Sharp, particularly in the US. In Ashfield Commercial & Clinical we will continue to diversify and differentiate our service offering, although in the short term we expect there to be some ongoing softness."
