Shares in Remgro-controlled private hospitals conglomerate Mediclinic International were sent reeling after the release of underwhelming interim results on Thursday. The shares, which traded as high as R214 at the end of June, lost 9.74% to finish at R137.20. Mediclinic owns operations in SA, the Middle East and Switzerland as well as a strategic investment in the UK. It reported operating profit up 10% to £169m. But underlying earnings per share dropped 26% to 12.8p with additional shares issued to finance the acquisition of London-listed private hospital group Al Noor, which performed poorly in the interim period. Lentus Asset Management chief investment officer Nic Norman-Smith said while Mediclinic was a solid company, earnings growth needed to be more convincing to justify the demanding earnings multiple placed on the share by the market. "They need a much better earnings performance to keep their share price up." Perhaps of greatest concern to investors was operating margin be...
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