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magazineUDG Healthcare shares press ahead and the dividend is back
UDG Healthcare (UDG) 721.2p
Gain to date: 3.9%
Original entry point: Buy at 694p, 16 July 2020
Our bullish stance on healthcare support services firm UDG Healthcare (UDG) is off to a decent start.
On 5 August the company reinstated its dividend and resumed earnings guidance as visibility on trading improved. The company declared an unchanged first-half dividend for the six months through March of 4.46 cents per share.
A decision to pay a final dividend for the financial year which ends on 30 September remains under review.
UDG says it expects to post adjusted diluted earnings per share for the year of between 43 cents and 45 cents.
Pre-tax profit on a constant currency basis for the first nine months of the year is expected to be ahead of the prior year.
UDG has two divisions: Ashfield provides advisory, communications and commercialisation services while Sharp is a leader in contract clinical trials, manufacturing and packaging.
Numis analyst Paul Cuddon says: ‘On the one hand, Sharp has benefited from increased outsourcing as a consequence of in-house staffing/packaging constraints, whilst Ashfield has been impacted by the disruption to healthcare services in the US and Europe.’
SHARES SAYS: An encouraging start, still a buy.
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