Healthcare services group Uniphar has reported higher half year revenues and profits and said it is well positioned to deliver on market expectations for the full year.
Uniphar said its revenues for the six months to the end of June rose by 10.3% to €1.37 billion, while its operating profits were up 15% to €32.226m.
It also reported EBITDA growth of 6.3%, from €52.6m to €55.9m, which it said reflected the execution of its strategy in each division and continued innovation across the group.
The Board has declared an interim dividend of €0.0067 per ordinary share for the six month, which represents growth of 5% on the same time last year.
Headquartered in Dublin, Uniphar services more than 200 multinational pharmaceutical and medical technology manufacturers across three divisions - Uniphar Pharma, Uniphar Medtech and Uniphar Supply Chain & Retail.
The group is active in Europe, North America, APAC and MENA and delivers to more than 160 countries.
Ger Rabbette, Uniphar's group chief executive, said the company had delivered a strong first half, with gross profit growth of almost 10% year on year.
"We are seeing the benefit of the hard work we have put in recently to build the foundations for the next stage of growth. The strategic investments we are making in infrastructure and IT will further improve our ability to generate organic growth and give us a stronger platform for integrating and achieving synergies from new acquisitions," the CEO said.
"We are confident that we will achieve our ambitious target of €200m EBITDA in the medium-term," he added.
Uniphar's Supply Chain & Retail division comprises its pre-wholesale and wholesale pharmaceutical distribution business, with about 1,900 community pharmacy customers and 430 owned, franchised or supported pharmacies.
It holds about 54% of the current wholesale market share and is an essential part of the national health infrastructure in Ireland.
The retail business operates across four brands - Hickeys, McCauleys, Allcare and Life Pharmacy - which together form the largest pharmacy group in Ireland.
Revenue for the six month period at the division rose by 7.1% to €890.86m while gross profits were up 8.1% to €95.29m and the company said the first year of its multi-year strategic investment programme to expand capacity in the division is progressing to plan.
The Uniphar Medtech division provides full end-to-end expertise across sales, service, marketing, quality, compliance, regulatory and market access across a pan-European platform and the business represents the majority of the world's top medical device manufacturers.
It reported half year revenues of €132.545m, an increase of 2.9%, while gross profits grew by 3.4% to €53.515m.
And the Uniphar Pharma division, a global business that provides integrated high value services across the lifecycle of a pharmaceutical product, saw its revenues jump by 23.3% to €344.17m while gross profits were up 20.5% to €57.891m.
Shares in the company ended flat in Dublin trading today.
