Results round-up

Water company Severn Trent said interim profits before interest and tax rose 10.8% to £299.4m.

Turnover rose 3.2% to £906.8m. The interim dividend rose 32.6p a share from 32.26p a share. Reported pre-tax profits rose to £185m from £175.3m.

Turnover for the Regulated Water and Waste Water segment was £765.2m, up from £754.4m and underlying profit before interest and tax rose slightly to £268.9m from £265.4m.

Severn said the sharp decrease in corporate bond yields since the year end, in particular following the EU referendum, was reflected in the increased accounting valuation of its pension schemes' obligations at the balance sheet date.

This was only partially offset by the good performance of the schemes' assets over the same period and as a result its accounting pension deficit increased from £309.5m to £711.7m at 30 September 2016.

Severn said a revised schedule of deficit reduction contributions will be put in place to meet the deficit and ongoing administration expenses. These will include payments of £10m for the next three financial years ending 31st March 2019.

Further inflation linked payments of £15m a year will be made through a new asset backed funding arrangement, starting in the financial year ending 31st March 2017 and potentially continuing to 31st March 2031, it added.

UDG Healthcare is in a net cash position to deliver sustained future growth after the disposal of its United Drug Supply Chain (UDSC) businesses and MASTA.

The group’s disposal of the (UDSC) businesses and MASTA completed on 1 April 2016 resulted in a net profit of €132.1m. Net cash at 30 September 2016 was €128.3m.

The company has also completed the acquisition of Pegasus,a UK-based healthcare communications business, in april 2016 and STEM, a leading global provider of commercial and medical audits to pharmaceutical companies, post year end. According to the board, both are an “excellent strategic fit” for Ashfield with “good growth prospects and higher margin profile.”

Revenue grew 3% to €943.1m for the year ended 30 September 2016. Operating profit grew 8% to €104.2m and Operating margin increased to 11.1% to 10.5%. Profit before tax was up 10%.

Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations increased by 8%. Final dividend increased from 8.50 cents per share yielding a full year dividend of 11.55c per share.

Return on capital employed (ROCE) for 2016 was up 13.7% from 13.5% in 2015.

The company operates across three divisions: Ashfield commercial and Medical services, Sharp Packaging services and Aquilant specialist healthcare services.

Asfield’s operating profit increased by 7% driven by positive underlying growth in both Ashfield Commercial & Clinical and Communications.

Sharp’s operating profit increased by 16% driven by continued growth in the US commercial packaging business. The division has also completed the build and fit out of its new packaging facility in Pennsylvania increasing US commercial packaging capacity by approximately 30%.