Primary Health benefits from higher profits at its centres

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Primary Health Care's boss, Ed Bateman, sees potential opportunities for his business from the introduction of a co-payment for doctor visits.

Primary Health Care’s boss, Ed Bateman, sees potential opportunities for his business from the introduction of a co-payment for doctor visits.

Medical centre and pathology operator Primary Health Care said its full-year net profit after tax rose 8.3 per cent to $162 million, which was just under expectations.

The Sydney-based company’s earnings were helped by better profit margins at its medical centres, improving by 80 basis points to 56.8 per cent. Analysts had expected net profit of $165.0 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In the 2013 fiscal year Primary had net profit of $150.1 million.

Primary reported a 6 per cent rise in revenue to $1.52 billion, up from $1.44 billion in the same period last year, which was in line with analyst forecasts.

The company said it was not possible to predict how a co-payment for doctor visits would impact the business, if the proposed policy was passed by the Senate. “But the greater efficiency of large-scale centres such as Primary’s should assist Primary to adapt to any changes,” the company said in a statement. “If some form of co-payment system were introduced, that may challenge some small practices and create opportunities for Primary.”