Caretech still hungry for deals

17th Jun 2010 15:34

Acquisitive social care services provider CareTech Holdings saw its net debt come tumbling down in a six month trading period in which underlying profits rose by almost a third.Revenue in the six months to 31 March 2010 rose by 5% to £41.4m from £39.5m, helped in part by an increase in the bed count of 50 to 1,480 and maintained occupancy levels of 93% in its established units.Underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation improved by 11% to £10.7m from £9.6m the year before, while adjusted profit before tax jumped 32% to £7.6m from £5.7m.Net debt came down by £12.6m over the reporting period to stand at £80.8m at the end of March."We continue to actively evaluate a substantial pipeline of acquisition opportunities with a view to completing those believed to be the best strategic fit and offering the most attractive prospective returns to shareholders," said Farouq Sheikh, executive chairman of CareTech.The interim dividend has been bumped up to 1.84p from 1.60p.