Hospital Group Ramsay Reports Having Best Results

MELBOURNE (Australia), Aug 28 (Bernama) -- Australia's biggest private hospitals operator, Ramsay Health Care, which has Malaysian links, says it has delivered its best financial results since listing on the Australian share market, the Australian Associated Press (AAP) reports. Ramsay, which celebrated its 50th anniversary this year, says all operations in Australia, the United Kingdom, France, Malaysia and Indonesia performed very strongly during fiscal 2014 and the outlook for the group was good. Ramsay Managing Director Christopher Rex said it was a shame Founder and Chairman Paul Ramsay, who died this year, will not see the group's "outstanding" set of numbers. "I think it's the best set of numbers certainly I've presented, probably the best set of numbers that have ever been presented since we floated (on the Australian Securities Exchange) in 1997," AAP quoted Rex as saying Thursday. Group revenue, core net profit, earnings per share and full-year dividend all rose significantly in a range of 17 to 21 per cent. Reported net profit for the year ended June 30 lifted 14 per cent to A$303.8 million from A$266.4 million a year earlier. Ramsay is targeting profit growth of between 14 and 16 per cent in fiscal 2015 as its continued to acquire more hospitals and upgrade and expand existing facilities. Rex said Ramsay was currently investigating acquisition opportunities in Asia. Ramsay operates three hospitals in Malaysia in a joint venture with Sime Darby (a major Malaysia-based multinational conglomerate) and has three hospitals in Indonesia. --BERNAMA