LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Healthcare services company Uniphar said in an update on Tuesday that it performed in line with its expectations in the first half, at both a gross profit and EBITDA level, while delivering normalised free cash flow conversion in line with medium-term guidance.
The AIM-traded firm said that it represented a "strong performance" during the period, demonstrating its resilience despite continued macroeconomic uncertainty and inflationary pressures.

It said it was maintaining a "strong" liquidity position.

The company said it achieved organic gross profit growth of 5% against a "strong" comparative period, driven by organic growth across each division and an outperformance in supply chain and retail.

Looking ahead, Uniphar said it was confident in delivering on current year expectations at a group level.

Mergers and acquisitions would continue to play an "important part" in Uniphar's compounding growth strategy, the board said.

It added the group was also maintaining a "disciplined approach" to capital allocation while managing an active pipeline of acquisition opportunities across all divisions and a number of geographies, to further enhance its growth potential.

"The group has performed strongly during the period," said group chief executive Ger Rabbette.

"The resilience of our business model and the diversity of our product offering has once again been demonstrated with each division delivering organic growth in gross profit during the period.

"Once again, our supply chain and retail division has outperformed its medium-term guidance demonstrating the benefits of our market leading position and the importance of continued investment in this division."

Rabbette said that, while the macroeconomic environment remained uncertain, the company had been successful in using its "scale and deep relationships" with long-term partners to mitigate inflationary headwinds.

"We remain confident and are on track to achieve our strategic objective of doubling EBITDA within five years of initial public offering."

At 1440 BST, shares in Uniphar were down 3.94% in London, at 305p.

Reporting by Josh White at Sharecast.com.

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