United Drug in good shape

irish healthcare services provider United Drug rose strongly after reporting a jump in profits and saying it would raise the dividend.

Pre-tax profits and earnings per share (EPS) were both up by 11% in the year to the end of September.

Profits were €59m over the period while EPS came in at 19.89c, which in turn boosted the company's share price by 6.6%.

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Revenues rose 5% to €1.83bn and the firm said it would raise the final dividend by the same amount to 6.56c per share.

This gives shareholders a total dividend for the year of 9.04c per share, 4% up on 2011.

Chief Executive Liam FitzGerald said that during 2012 the firm had significantly expanded its service offering and geographic footprint.

"Over 70% of operating profits were generated outside Ireland with 27% now coming from the US market," he said.

MM