Ramsay franchise of choice

RAMSAY Health Care has reported its full year results with commitments to become the “franchise network of choice for community-based health solutions, pharmacy products and services”.

The expansion of its pharmacy franchise network is a key element of the company’s future positive growth outlook.

The growth in Australian pharmacy expansion in the first half of the year was tempered by investment in infrastructure and resources in the second half, md Craig McNally said.

The full year results reported $9.2 billion in group revenue, up 5.4% from the previous year.

Earnings before income tax depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were $1.4 billion, up 6.2%.

The hospital and pharmacy health care group’s final fully franked dividend was 86.5c making a total full year dividend of 144c, up 7.1%.

The French sector of the business has found improvement in the environment for private hospitals, while the UK has headwinds around NHS cost containment and reduced volumes.

Predictably, Asia remains the growth star with the market remaining competitive, with 2018 FY results up 27.7% .

The group added Queensland’s 18 Malouf pharmacies to its network bringing the total number of franchises to 54, but has temporarily slowed the rollout to establish infrastructure for long term sustainability - asx.com.au.