UDG Healthcare Q1 profit 'well ahead' of 2019

Healthcare services group UDG Healthcare said on Tuesday that it had made a "good start" to the trading year, with pre-tax profits for the three months ended 31 December coming in "well ahead" of the same period a year earlier.

UDG said operating profits at its Ashfield subsidiary were "significantly ahead" year-on-year, driven by good underlying growth and the benefit of 2019 acquisitions, while operating profits at Sharp were ahead of a strong comparative quarter last year, with all parts of the business trading in line with expectations.

Based on its performance in the first quarter of the year, it now expects constant currency adjusted diluted earnings per share for the year ending 30 September to be between 7% and 9% ahead of last year.

UDG's guidance reflected the impact of IFRS16, which was not included in the prior year, and also takes into account the recent disposal of Ashfield's pharmacovigilance business and an expected higher effective tax rate due to an increasing proportion of profits being generated in the US.

At 1035 GMT, the shares were down 0.9% at 785.89p.