 |
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
Sixth year of record results for Bupa 15 March 2006 Improving the quality, value and efficiency of customer care Reporting its annual results, healthcare company Bupa today announced a strong financial performance for the year to 31 December 2005. Highlights include:
* excludes the effect of currency translation differences and non-recurring items including the impact of revaluations, profit and loss on sale of businesses, goodwill impairment, and various adjustments relating to the refinancing of Group debt. Val Gooding, Chief Executive, commented: “2005 was a significant year for Bupa. We achieved strong growth across the board with our customer numbers increasing to 8.2 million. The Group has continued to benefit from its strategy of offering a range of healthcare services in growing health markets, both in the UK and internationally. Our main insurance, hospital and care home businesses are performing well and the integration of the acquisitions we made in the UK, Denmark and the US during the year is progressing smoothly. “BUPA’s provident status works well for our customers and lies at the heart of our success. It allows us to generate and reinvest more profits for the benefit of our customers. The ability to make such substantial reinvestment keeps Bupa at the forefront of developments in the healthcare sector, enabling us to provide high quality services to our customers. We have achieved excellent levels of customer satisfaction, which reflects this reinvestment, our commitment to employee training, and our focus on delivering best practice in healthcare. “Improving operating efficiency continues to be a focus for the Group. Greater efficiencies will enable us to slow the rate of price increases for our customers, while also investing more in customer care.” Chairman Bryan Sanderson said: “These are really good results for Bupa. We expect that 2006 will be another year of growth for the Group, albeit not at the same underlying rate as in 2005. There is real momentum across the Group, benefiting our customers in all our markets.” Overview of the results Bupa achieved growth across its main businesses during 2005 – the sixth record year in a row. Revenue grew by 8 percent to £3.9 billion. Underlying Group surplus before tax increased by 22 percent* to £304.5 million, driven largely by organic growth. This excludes the effect of currency translation differences and non-recurring items including the impact of revaluation of property, profit and loss on sale of businesses, goodwill impairment, and various adjustments relating to the refinancing of Group debt. Headline growth in surplus before tax was 71 percent. Bupa’s insurance businesses in the UK and overseas had an excellent year. The care homes business maintained good occupancy levels and effective cost control. Bupa Hospitals’ underlying growth was supported by cost management initiatives and increased patient volumes. During the year, Bupa made three substantial acquisitions. ANS Care Homes was acquired for £334 million (including debt assumed), enhancing Bupa’s position as one of the UK’s leading care home operators. Bupa strengthened its expatriate insurance operations through two acquisitions, IHI in Denmark and AMEDEX in the US, for a total consideration of £206 million. Following a strategic review, Bupa completed the sale of nine hospitals for £84 million. Group revenue was £3.9 billion (2004: £3.6 billion). Revenue from insurance activities in the UK and overseas grew to £2.7 billion (2004: £2.5 billion) and revenue from our non-insurance activities, hospitals and care homes was £1.2 billion (2004: £1.1 billion). Benefiting from broad-based growth These strong results demonstrate the success of Bupa’s strategy of offering a range of health and care services and of extending its operations internationally to avoid overdependence on one sector of healthcare or a single health economy. The strategy also allows the Group to share knowledge of a range of health economies and best clinical practice. Significant re-investment delivering better service to customers As a provident, Bupa reinvests all its profits into the business to benefit its customers. Capital investment in Bupa is essential for future growth and ensures that the Group remains at the forefront of the sector in terms of technology, infrastructure and customer service. In 2005, Bupa spent £117 million (2004: £85 million) improving hospitals, building and extending care homes, and upgrading systems. The Group also invested £541 million in acquisitions in 2005. As a provident, all profits are reinvested for the benefit of customers In 2005, Bupa made a record benefit payout to customers, with £2.1bn paid in claims in 2005, including £150m on cancer care in the UK. High levels of customer satisfaction Bupa has achieved excellent levels of customer satisfaction during 2005, and its achievements have most recently been acknowledged through a number of awards from industry bodies, including the UK’s Best Group Private Medical Insurance Provider, Spain’s Best Health Insurance Company and the UK’s Best Occupational Health Provider. Focus on improving efficiency to offer good value, quality services The UK insurance business has embarked on a major change programme designed to enhance further the quality and value of its services while slowing the rate of premium increases. Bupa Hospitals is in its second year of a significant change programme, and the margin improvement in 2005 was achieved by improved efficiency, through increased standardisation of working practices and containment of fixed costs. In UK care homes, successful recruitment initiatives enabled a significant reduction in agency usage. Elsewhere in the Group we also focused on driving efficiencies for the benefit of our customers; for example in Bupa Australia we have a market leading expense ratio and our premium increase was lower than the industry average for the fifth consecutive year. Ireland – Risk Equalisation Scheme (RES) As previously announced, Bupa is challenging the Irish government’s decision in December to introduce the risk equalisation scheme which would involve Bupa making substantial payments to its state-owned rival VHI because of VHI’s older customer base. On 7 February 2006, Bupa began a legal challenge against the scheme in the Irish High Court. The Group is also progressing a case in the European Court, on the grounds that the risk equalisation scheme is an illegal state aid. Bupa hopes that it can obtain an early and favourable resolution of this issue. This is necessary if Bupa is to continue to operate a viable business, or we will be forced reluctantly to leave the market. The Irish business represents approximately 3 percent of Bupa’s revenue. During 2005, Bupa Ireland grew its membership by 10 percent to 440,000, a strong endorsement of the value offered by Bupa Ireland to its customers. Bupa’s role in the public sector Responding to the Government’s strategy of encouraging a greater role for the independent sector, Bupa is helping to reduce NHS waiting lists by delivering healthcare on its behalf. During 2005, Bupa continued to develop partnerships with local authorities to provide new care home facilities and the hospitals business is carrying out an increasing volume of surgery for the NHS. Bupa’s Redwood Diagnosis and Treatment Centre, which carries out work solely for the NHS, is currently in its third year of operation and treated 12,000 in-patient and day-case episodes in 2005. The revenue from this work represents approximately 1 percent of Bupa’s business. This work has contributed to an improvement in efficiency, thereby helping us to deliver a better service to all our patients. Charity and community involvement remain important to Bupa During 2005, Bupa donated the equivalent of £4.7 million to charities and community projects. The Group remains committed to exceeding the Business in the Community benchmark of donating over 1 percent of pre-tax profit annually. Bupa’s commitment to charitable giving and the community included £2.6 million support for the Bupa Foundation, an independent medical research charity. Outlook Bupa expects that 2006 will be another year of growth for the Group as it completes the integration of its recent acquisitions and continues to grow its existing businesses, albeit not at the same underlying rate as during 2005, because of increased competition in some markets, including the UK. Bupa remains committed to providing good value healthcare services of the highest quality to its customers through significant reinvestment and the expertise and energy of its employees.
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
 |
 |
|
|||
|
||||||
 |
|
|
 |
|
|