Uniphar performs ahead of FY expectations

Healthcare services business Uniphar said on Wednesday that it had performed ahead of full-year expectations at both a gross profit and underlying earnings level in 2020, with high free cash flow conversion resulting in lower than projected net debt.

Uniphar recorded organic gross profit growth in excess of 6%, something the company referred to as "a particularly strong performance", demonstrating the diversity of its product portfolio and the benefit of its focus and investment in technology platforms.

The AIM-listed group said its organic gross profit growth was driven by the outperformance of its two international divisions, product access and commercial and clinical.

Looking ahead, Uniphar stated it was "well-positioned" to deliver organic growth across all divisions, with the additional benefit of the full-year impact of acquisitions completed in 2020, and added that it was well placed to benefit from an acceleration in demand following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Chief executive Ger Rabbette said: "Our trading update reflects a strong performance for 2020 and I'm very proud of what our team have achieved, and in particular the great resilience and unstinting commitment demonstrated by them throughout this unprecedented and challenging period. This has helped the group achieve reported gross profit growth across all our divisions and organic gross profit growth at a Group level in excess of 6%.

"We are confident and remain on track to achieve our strategic objective of doubling EBITDA within 5 years of IPO."

As of 0840 GMT, Uniphar shares were up 4.55% at €2.52 each.