South Africa’s Netcare posts drop in full-year profit

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s second-largest private hospital firm Netcare reported a 31 percent drop in full-year profit on Monday as its operations in Britain weighed on earnings. * Diluted headline earnings per share (EPS) fell to 117.1cents for the year to end-September, compared with 170 cents theprevious year. * The results were hit by a non-cash fair value accountingcharge related to property leases in the United Kingdom. * Netcare runs Britain’s largest private hospital network,BMI Healthcare. * Headline EPS is the main profit measure in South Africaand strips out certain one-off items. * When headline EPS is adjusted to separately disclose theexceptional nature of the swap instruments of the UK renttransaction, it totalled 199.5 cents, an increase of 5.6percent. * Final dividend per share up 5.6 percent to 57.0 cents * Full-year revenue rose 12.1 percent to 37.8 billion rand ($2.62 billion) * Demand for private healthcare services in SA is expectedto remain resilient, the firm said. * Britain’s decision to leave the European Union has had nomeasurable impact on the business to date, Netcare said.($1 = 14.4517 rand)

(Reporting by TJ Strydom; Editing by Joe Brock)