Analysts yesterday upgraded their forecasts for United Drug's 2008 results after the healthcare and pharmaceutical group reported strong growth in this year's earnings.

The company, which analysts said had coped well with the changes to the drug pricing regime in Britain and Ireland, recorded a 7.7 per cent increase in pretax profit for the year to the end of September, to €55.8 million. Revenue rose 8 per cent, to €1.58 billion.

"United Drug has produced a solid set of numbers, which show the implementation of the first phase of the Irish drug pricing review has been successfully completed," Goodbody analyst Ian Hunter said in a note.

NCB analyst Orla Hartford agreed and said she would be upgrading her 2008 and 2009 forecasts by between 2 and 2.5 per cent to partly reflect a stronger-than-expected profit performance in the group's wholesale business in the Republic.

The results for 2007, which also included a 15 per cent increase in the full-year dividend to 7.3 cent, were slightly ahead of most analysts' estimates.

United Drug chief executive Liam Fitzgerald welcomed the figures and said the company had made "significant progress" in its development as an international healthcare service company.

The Dublin-based company made its first foray into mainland Europe during the year, with acquisitions in Belgium and Holland and since the end of the 2007 financial year has also added to its contract sales and marketing services in the US with another bolt-on acquisition.

In the statement, United Drug said it is well placed to make further acquisitions to take advantage of the increased demand for medicines.

Shares in the company fell 1.5 per cent yesterday, to close at €3.30 in a very weak market.