Spire Healthcare returns to profit in 2022

Private healthcare group Spire Healthcare returned to profit in 2022 and said it sees recent strong momentum continuing into the early months of 2023.

Spire Healthcare said revenues had risen 8.3% to £1.19bn, while adjusted operating profits surged 30.2% to £105.6m and adjusted underlying earnings increased 14.2% to £203.5m.

The FTSE 250-listed firm also said it had delivered a pre-tax profit of £3.9m, a marked improvement on the prior year's £1.9m pre-tax loss. On a per share basis, basic profits came to 2.1p per share, up from 2021's pre-tax loss of 2.4p.

Net bank debt rose 11.2% to £250.1m and adjusted free cash flow shot up from £12.0m to £28.0m.

Spire also recommended of a final dividend payment of 0.5p per share for the year, its first dividend payment since suspending payouts due to Covid-19 pandemic in April 2020.

Looking ahead, Spire expects to see strong momentum in 2022 continue into the early months of 2023, with continued growth in revenue, profit and return on capital expenditure throughout the year, as well as additional margin improvement.

Chief executive Justin Ash said: "I am encouraged by the growth in activity, revenue, earnings and return on investment of the business against a particularly challenging operating background. Momentum has continued into the new year.

"The quality of our people, the resilience of our business model and the sustained demand for healthcare mean that despite the current macroeconomic uncertainty, we remain confident in the future growth and returns prospects for Spire Healthcare."

As of 0910 GMT, Spire shares were down 2.51% at 233.0p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com