Healthcare services company UDG said trading in the third quarter of the year was strong as it reported operating profit was significantly ahead of 2014.
The group, which includes Sharp Packaging Services division and the Ashfield Commercial & Medical Services division, said profits for the nine months to June 30th were significantly ahead of the prior year.
The firm said it recorded robust profit growth in its Ashfield healthcare communications business in the three months to June 30th 2015, with the European commercial business also performing well. It sold the Speakers Bureau business during the quarter, after acquiring it when UDG bought KnowledgePoint360 in 2014.
In the Sharp Packaging Services unit, UDG said operating profits were significantly ahead of the third quarter last year, as a stong performance in the US recorded in the first half of the year continued. The company said it was due to an increased demand for bottling. In Europe, Sharp recorded a small trading loss but showed some improvement compared with the same period a year earlier.
“We continue to re-align the Sharp Europe cost base with current business activity, while maintaining appropriate capacity for expected business growth,” UDG said in a statement.
In the supply chain services sector, UDG sid its performance was in line with expectations, wth Aquilant showing operating profit ahead of 2015. However, the overall divisional operating profits were lower in the most recent quarter due to UDG’s disposal of its UniDrug joint venture interest in 2014.
The group reiterated its guidance for the year of adjusted diluted earnings per share that would be between 7 per cent and 9 per cent ahead of last year, on a constant currency basis. It also said it expected an exceptional charge of about €15 million as a result of the integration of its 2014 aquisitions, the closure of Aquilant’s UK laboratory distribution business and the efforts to change the cost base of Sharp Europe.
