South African hospital chain operator Mediclinic International is reinstating dividends after almost doubling full-year profit, it said on Wednesday.
The London-listed company's headline earnings per share for the year to March 31 rose to 19 pence from 9.6 pence a year earlier, driven mainly by increasing patient numbers as coronavirus restrictions eased.
The company announced a dividend of 3 pence per share.
Healthcare providers were hit hard in 2020 and partly in 2021 as the COVID-19 pandemic forced people to postpone non-essential hospital procedures.
But as vaccination rates increased and successive waves of COVID-19 proved to be less deadly, people resumed hospital visits, helping to boost revenue and profit at private hospitals.
Mediclinic, which owns a chain of private hospitals in southern Africa, the Middle East and Switzerland, posted annual revenue up 8% at 3.2 billion pounds ($4.01 billion), exceeding pre-pandemic levels, the company said.
However, profit has yet to reach its pre-pandemic level of 26.9 pence per share.
Reuters