Uniphar posts strong first-half growth

Healthcare services provider Uniphar reported gross profit growth of 30.9% in its first half on Wednesday to €134.29m (£115.25m), or 11.2% on an organic basis.

The AIM-traded firm reported a “strong performance” across all of its divisions, with commercial and clinical outperforming its medium-term guidance, delivering 23.7% organic growth.

Revenue was up 10.7% year-on-year for the six months ended 30 June at €964.87m, or 10.8% at constant currency, as the board reported continued growth in its gross profit margin to 13.9% from 11.8%, reflecting its expansion into higher-margin opportunities.

EBITDA growth was 36.2% to €41.1m, driven by a “strong performance” across the group, alongside increasing investment in operating overheads to support future growth.

Adjusted earnings per share were ahead 39.2% at 7.1 euro cents, with the company’s return on capital employed coming in at 17.6%, which the board put down to the group’s strong performance.

It described its capital structure as “robust” at period end, with continued strong liquidity and leverage remaining low at 0.5x.

The board declared an interim dividend of €1.5m, or 0.56 cents per ordinary share, for the period ended 30 June.

“The group has delivered strong results for the first half, with double digit organic gross profit growth and EBITDA growth of 36.2%,” said group chief executive officer Ger Rabbette.

“While all divisions have performed well, the commercial and clinical division has performed particularly strongly, outperforming against its medium-term guidance.

“Our two acquisitions, announced post period end, demonstrate our continued focus on identifying and executing compelling merger and acquisition opportunities which complement our organic growth, accelerate our strategic plans and meet or exceed our strict return on capital employed hurdles.”

Rabbette said the CoRRect Medical acquisition provided the group with an acceleration in its organic entry into the “highly attractive” German medical technology market, while the New York-based BESTMSLs broadened its pharma services offering through the provision of contract medical science liaison teams and digital solutions.

“We remain confident and are on track to achieve our strategic objective of doubling 2018 pro-forma EBITDA within five years of initial public offering.”

At 0824 BST, shares in Uniphar were down 0.29% at 341p.