Private healthcare company sees profits up 86%

COST-containment measures along with increased activity last year resulted in profits at the country’s largest private healthcare company, Bon Secours increasing by 86% to €5.3m.

In accounts just filed to the Companies’ Office by the Bon Secours Health System Ltd, they show that the group last year increased its turnover by 8% from €203m €219.6m.

The company with its HQ at College Rd, Cork operates Bon Secours hospitals in Cork, Dublin, Galway and Tralee providing more than 800 private beds.

The accounts show that the company, which employs 2,585 people, increased its operating surplus by 54% from €5m to €7.7m.

The directors state that the increased surplus “reflects higher activity levels across the hospitals and the implementation of cost containment measures”.

The filings show that the company’s profits were hit last year by a write down of €1.29m on land and buildings at Glasnevin, Dublin and a spend of €8.7m on capital expenditure on hospital facilities.

The healthcare provider is in the process of a €100m investment at two of its hospitals with €85m being invested at its hospital on Cork’s College Rd and a further €15m being invested at its Galway hospital on the Dublin Rd in Renmore.

The investment in Cork will create an additional 80 private beds that will increase the capacity to 420 at the College Rd hospital, first established by the Bon Secours order in 1915.

The accounts show that the not-for-profit group had accumulated income of €36.7m at the end of December last year and shows under “capital and reserves”, the company had €88m including €51m under “capital contribution”.

The accounts show that the numbers employed by Bon Secours last year declined by 37 from 2,622 to 2,585 with the company’s staff costs increasing by 4% from €113m to €117.5m.

The directors confirm that last year, the company made contributions to charitable causes amounting to €543,000.