Johannesburg - Netcare, an owner and operator of private hospitals in South Africa and the UK, gained in Johannesburg trading after the company said it plans to add more beds in its home market.
The shares rose as much as 2.4 percent and traded 1.5 percent higher at 34.18 rand at 10:37 am in Johannesburg, bringing the gain this year to 32 percent.
The stock reached a record high on November 17.
Netcare bought a 28-bed hospital in South Africa’s Western Cape at the start of the month and plans to add another 270 beds in the second half of the 2015 fiscal year by opening two hospitals.
In South Africa, the demand for private healthcare is “expected to remain strong, which will support Netcare’s growth over the next few years,” the company said.
“With healthcare being a late-cycle beneficiary, the improvement in the wider UK economy has not filtered through into the private medical insurance market” in that country, it said.
Revenue from South Africa rose 7.4 percent to 16.3 billion rand for the year ended in September, Johannesburg-based Netcare said in a statement today.
That compares with 4.5 percent revenue growth in the UK.
Netcare’s operating profit rose 8.5 percent to 3.3 billion rand, according to the report.
Revenue advanced 16 percent to 31.8 billion rand, with currency fluctuations accounting for 9.9 percent of the increase.
The final dividend was raised 18.5 percent to 48 cents a share. - Bloomberg News