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Bupa reports a record year 21 March 2005 Healthcare company Bupa today reported a surplus before tax of £182.2 million (£134.5 million) for the year to 31 December 2004. Announcing record results, chief executive Val Gooding said that all major business divisions within the group performed well and ahead of expectations. Growth was largely organic and the increase in surplus before taxation included strong performances in Bupa's overseas insurance businesses (including those in Spain and Australia), UK care homes and a better year for Bupa Hospitals. Bupa's care homes portfolio was expanded in the year with the acquisition of 13 homes in the UK. In Spain, it opened two new care homes and took over the management of one other. Miss Gooding said: "In spite of the significant change in the UK healthcare market, Bupa's UK insurance and hospitals businesses performed well. Bupa's main businesses recorded strong customer satisfaction results. The UK insurance business - still Bupa's largest - achieved record ratings for its customer service. This excellent service supported customer retention and enabled the business to grow its customer base." Group income was £3,627 million (£3,368 million). Income from insurance activities in the UK and overseas grew to £2,464 million (£2,281 million) and income from non-insurance activities including hospitals, care homes, occupational health and health screening, was £1,163 million (£1,087 million). Reserves grew by £103 million to £1,409 million. At the end of the year, Bupa raised £330 million via a subordinated bond issue, which has been used to repay existing debt. As Bupa is a provident association, all surpluses after taxation are reinvested in the business. In the year, Bupa spent £91 million on additions to its hospitals and care homes and on buildings and equipment. This included investment in new MRI scanners and a major upgrade to its Parkway hospital in Solihull. Bupa invested £14 million on refurbishments in its portfolio of care homes and £5 million on new care home sites. Other expenditure during the year also included £2 million to maintain high standards of hygiene and cleanliness in hospitals. The group also invested significantly in the training and development of people, which included a comprehensive training programme for 20,000 care home employees. Over the past five years Bupa has increased its annual pre-tax surplus by an average of 32 per cent per annum and has grown income by 70 per cent. Customers served have increased to 7.8 million and post tax return on reserves has risen from four percent to eight percent. Over the same period, Bupa has invested £494 million in capital expenditure to improve the quality and range of services it offers. In 2004, Business in the Community cited Bupa as one of the top ten corporate contributors to community investment. The group committed a further £2.6 million to the medical research charity The Bupa Foundation and a further £1 million to support local communities during the year. This included a donation of £100,000 to the charity Life Education, which provides health education programmes to 850,000 school children. In addition, the Bupa Great North Run raised £8 million for good causes. In Ireland, Bupa donated £180,000 to fund a new research centre focusing on women's health at Cork University Hospital. Val Gooding said: "In 2004, we exceeded our targets for overall performance, not just in financial terms but also in customer satisfaction which lies at the heart of our business. "However, we need to respond to the changing UK health and care market and have conducted strategic reviews of our UK insurance and hospitals operations to enable us to adapt our services and to offer better value healthcare to all our customers. Customer commitment to private healthcare remains strong. In a MORI survey, 79 percent of people said they would keep their private medical insurance even if the NHS reduced waiting times to 18 weeks. "We remain committed to our original objectives of improving the quality and delivery of health and care for customers and will continue to seek opportunities to develop our businesses with that aim in mind."
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