These results highlighted Assura's focus on medical centre development and pharmacies after the group sold a 75 per cent interest in its healthcare services division to Virgin Healthcare Holdings for £4m.
Assura did, however, book a £2.4m property revaluation gain - compared with the £58.2m loss in 2009. Moreover, the company's land bank is worth nearly £10.8m; about two-thirds of that is considered surplus to requirements. However, the property development side took a £4.5m hit after the completion of several unprofitable medical centres and Assura will now only undertake centre developments that have been substantially pre-let.
Still, the pharmacy business did better even though the segment's maiden £3.9m profit, driven by a 16.9 per cent sales hike to £31.2m, was boosted by disposals and the reversal of impairment charges. The pharmacy business could also be affected this year by changes to the NHS reimbursement policy for medicines. Assura's debt was refinanced through a new £30m facility with Santander, although interest charges rose from £10.9m last year to £14.8m.
ASSURA (AGR) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 43p | MARKET VALUE: | £ 137m | |
| TOUCH: | 42-45p | 12M HIGH | 52p | LOW: 22p |
| DISCOUNT TO NAV: | 20% | DIVIDEND YIELD: | NIL | |
| INVEST PROPERTIES: | £314m | NET DEBT: | 141% | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Net asset value (p) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 118 | 18.4 | 9.85 | 6.00 |
31 Mar | ||||
| 2008* | 117 | 12.6 | 6.15 | 8.75 |
| 2009 | 56.2 | -99.8 | -38.8 | nil |
| 2010 | 53.6 | 4.38 | 2.14 | nil |
| % change | -5 | - | - | - |
Ex-div- Payment:- *15 month period | ||||
