UDG Healthcare FY profit rises, CFO Alan Ralph to retire

UDG Healthcare posted a rise in full-year profit on Tuesday as it announced that chief financial officer Alan Ralph plans to retire by the end of next year.

In the year to the end of September, adjusted pre-tax profit increased 17% to $118.9m on revenue of $1.2bn, up 13%, as all divisions delivered good underlying profit growth and the healthcare services provider completed six acquisitions.

Diluted adjusted earnings per share were up 17% to 37.12 cents and the company lifted its full-year dividend by 7% to 13.3 cents.

Chief executive officer Brendan McAtamney said: "We continued to transform UDG Healthcare, committing more than $270m to six transactions during the year. These acquisitions enhance and broaden the range of capabilities we offer our healthcare clients. We are well positioned to continue to deliver organic growth and our strong balance sheet will enable us to execute further strategic acquisition opportunities as they arise.

"UDG Healthcare's value proposition to our clients continues to expand and the group also continues to benefit from the increasing trend in the healthcare industry to outsource specialist and non-core activities on an international basis."

Also on Tuesday, the company said that a "comprehensive process" is now underway to appoint a suitable successor to CFO Alan Ralph, who intends to retire by the end of 2018.

At 0920 GMT, the shares were down 4.2% to 825.29p.