Irish-listed healthcare group Uniphar has said it traded in line with expectations in the first six months of its trading year, notching up organic profit growth of 5 per cent over the period.
The group, which accounts for more than 20 per cent of the Irish retail pharmacy market, said on Wednesday that each of its business divisions had achieved growth in over the six month period to the end of June with its retail and supply chain unit, in particular, continuing to outperform.
Uniphar, which expanded its offering in the market with the purchase of the Sam McCauley chain of pharmacies for €50 million earlier this year, published the details in an unaudited trading update on Wednesday morning.
It said the business had traded “in line with the group’s expectations” at both a gross profit and an Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, deductibles and amortisation) basis " while delivering normalised free cashflow conversion in line with medium term guidance”.
Uniphar said the first half was another “strong period of performance” with the group maintaining “a strong liquidity position” and an “active pipeline of acquisition opportunities”.
“The group has performed well during the period, delivering strong organic gross profit growth,” said Uniphar chief executive Ger Rabbette in a statement. “The resilience of our business model and the diversity of our product offering has once again been demonstrated with each division delivering organic growth in gross profit during the period. We also continue to invest across all of our platforms to ensure continued, robust growth in 2023 and beyond.
“Having delivered on our strategic objective of doubling Ebitda within five years of IPO (initial public offering), we will communicate new medium-term targets with our interim results.”
Uniphar will publish the fully details of its interim results in September.
Adam Barker, healthcare analyst at Goodbody Stockbrokers’ investment banking division, said that while Uniphar expects higher interest rate charges on its floating debt to “put pressure” on earnings per share (EPS), “more importantly”, it has met its medium-term target of doubling Ebitda within five years of its initial public offering. The group “remains in a very strong position”, he said.
Analysts from Davy Stockbrokers, meanwhile, said the trading statement “confirms the business is performing very well and that the company is likely to achieve around 15 per cent growth in Ebitda this year.” They said Uniphar will outline new medium-term targets in September that “will provide the framework for the investment case going forward”.
