Profit rose almost 10 per cent at Uniphar in the year to the end of June as the company saw growth across all its divisions.
But its Uniphar Pharma division saw the greatest jump, with organic gross profit growth of more than 20 per cent.
Overall, group gross profit was 9.9 per cent higher at €206 .7 million, with 7.4 per cent organic growth.
Reported revenue was up more than 10 per cent to €1.37 billion, while pretax profit rose by 2.8 per cent to €23.4 million. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) were almost €56 million, rising 6.3 per cent as the company’s strategy began to pay off.
Adjusted earnings per share were marginally higher, at 8.1 cent versus last year’s 8 cent, as higher financing costs during the period offset earnings growth.
Its pharmaceutical wholesaler Uniphar Supply Chain & Retail saw gross profit grow by 8.1 per cent, capitalising on “robust market demand”, while Uniphar Medtech was up 3.4 per cent.
“Uniphar has delivered a strong first half, with gross profit growth of almost 10 per cent 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,” said chief executive Ger Rabbette.
“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. We are confident that we will achieve our ambitious target of €200 million Ebitda in the medium-term.”
Uniphar said it had “robust” liquidity, with net bank debt of €143.6 million at the end of June. That compared with December 2023 figures, when net debt stood at almost €150 million.
Interim dividend was up 5 per cent, with the board declaring an interim dividend of €0.0067 per ordinary share.
The company said it expected to deliver on its targets for the full year with organic gross profit growth across all divisions.
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