Spire announces first dividend

At the time of the IPO last July, Spire's parent company, European private equity firm Cinven, offloaded 12 properties owned by Spire, replacing them with lease liabilities. But Mr Roger says that's "just half" of Spire's business model. To keep the group's operational gearing under control, new properties added to the estate are bought freehold.

In May, Spire completed one such acquisition - that of St Anthony's hospital in Cheam, which boasts 92 beds and four operating theatres. Spire is also building new hospitals in Manchester and Nottingham, and hopes to open a second cancer centre in Exeter after opening a radiotherapy site in Bristol last April.

As the general election approaches, Mr Roger says Spire could have more to gain from a Labour victory. He believes the party shares Spire's concern over a budgetary shortfall of £35bn in healthcare by the end of the decade, as public sector funding comes under further pressure. The NHS 'choose and book' policy - which helps drive a chunk of Spire's revenues - allows patients to opt to self-pay for procedures not readily funded by the NHS. This strategy was devised by the Blair-Brown administration of the late 1990s.

Election results aside, Spire is on track for a good 2015. Last year IPO costs distorted profits, but on an adjusted basis cash profits rose 6 per cent to £159m. The company finished the year with £424m of net debt - £10m better than analysts expected - and declared a maiden dividend worth 1.8p per share. Accounting for the dividend and debt repayments, Mr Roger says the group has around £100m in free cash for capital expenditure this year. Management are guiding investors to expect mid-to-high single-digit EPS growth in 2015.

Brokerage Numis expects pre-tax profits of £93.2m this year, giving EPS of 20.4p, up from £28.5m and 18.3p respectively in 2014.